After successfully using Popsicle sticks, hot glue and elastic bands to build a catapult at the Western Engineering Competition earlier this year, four UNBC environmental engineering students are ready to put their design skills to the test once again, this time at the national level.

Makayla Wozney, Lorelei Magdzik, Anthony Tsai and Alexandra Pedersen are headed to Calgary for the Canadian Engineering Competition from March 2 to 5. The quartet of second-year students will compete in the Junior Design division.

“Going to the national conference will be a great experience,” Magdzik said. “We will have opportunities to meet with other students from across the country and with professionals in our field.”

Just as at regionals, the teams at nationals will receive their task on the day of the competition and will have just four hours to design a solution, using only the materials on hand to build it. During their allotted time, the teams must complete their project and put together a presentation for the judges.

At the Western Canadian competition in Banff, Alta. in January, the team needed to design a way to transport supplies from one location to another for a search and rescue operation in mountainous terrain. While some teams built slingshots, the UNBC team settled on a catapult.

“Compared with the other teams, we spent more time designing rather than building,” Wozney said. “We wanted to make sure we had a solid design going in so that we could execute it faster.”

The teams are graded on not only how well their solutions perform, but also the cost of the materials used to put it all together. Pedersen said the extra time spent on design allowed the UNBC team to consider the budget implications of their solution.

“We wanted to make sure our budget was reasonable, not too high and not too low,” she said. “We were able to accomplish that and build a catapult that delivered the material closer to the target than any other team.”

In the end, the UNBC team placed second in Western Canada - good enough to qualify for nationals along with a team from the University of Regina. The UNBC team is looking to build on that success when they go to Calgary.

“We have no idea what type of project is coming at us,” Wozney said. “But we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Pictured above: Environmental Engineering students (front from left) Anthony Tsai and Lorelei Magdzik (back from left) Makayla Wozney and Alexandra Pedersen will be competing at the Canadian Engineering Competition in Calgary March 2-5.