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Students from Modbury High School and Charles Campbell College are gearing up to hit the international stage in Singapore this weekend, when they compete in the 2023 World Finals of the global STEM challenge, F1 in Schools.

The schools are among 68 teams from 33 countries who will be vying for the championship title at the event, being held from 10-13 September ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

F1 in Schools is a global competition in which students must use engineering and manufacturing principles to design, analyse, manufacture, test, and race miniature air-powered cars capable of reaching 0-80 km/h in under one second.

A multi-disciplinary STEM program, it provides students access to real-world technologies such as 3D CAD engineering design software and develops skills across a range of areas including problem solving, project management, marketing, teamwork, innovation and entrepreneurialism.

Team DAWN is a collaboration team comprised of year 10 and 11 students from Modbury High School and Penrith Christian School in NSW. Previous successes for the team include placing first in Development Class at the 2021 South Australian State Finals and second in Development Class at the 2022 National Finals.

DAWN Team Manager Kahlan Mashford said the team were looking forward to the opportunity to compete in the World Finals.

“DAWN is proving to be shining bright on all fronts leading up to the competition,” Kahlan said.

“DAWN is excited to go to Singapore as not only is it some people’s first time overseas but we’re excited to meet each other in person. It means a lot to everyone in the team to be able to showcase our hard work on a world stage while representing Australia.”

Team Propulsion from Charles Campbell College formed in 2022, with the six-person team of year 10 and 11 students also achieving success at the 2022 National Finals to qualify them to represent Australia at this weekend’s finals event.

Team Propulsion Car Engineer Kunal Seth said the F1 journey had equipped team members with skills and perspectives that simply aren’t possible through conventional schooling.

“Being part of Team Propulsion from Charles Campbell College has been a beneficial journey that’s shifted my learning far beyond the confines of a classroom,” Kunal said. “At just 16, I’ve dived headfirst into the realm of aerodynamics, collaborating directly with Ford Australia to fine-tune the car’s performance.”

“We have improved ourselves as a team by partnering with businesses, gaining insights into real-world engineering and management that textbooks could never emulate.”

“As we gear up for the World Finals, we understand that the work we are putting in now will benefit our employment opportunities for our future. We can’t wait to be in Singapore to compete!”

An innovative approach to exposing secondary school students to STEM-related subjects, F1 in Schools is a STEM education program that gives students the opportunity to build life-long skills that will help them succeed individually, as a team, and ultimately contribute to our ambitions of building the skilled workforce Australia needs.

The South Australian Government is a proud sponsor of Re-Engineering Australia, who manage the Australian F1 in Schools competition, as well as a supporter of DAWN and Team Propulsion.

Follow the F1 journeys of our South Australian teams at propulsion2022.com and dawn-teamaus.com