The Saint Mary’s Senior High School (SHS) has won the 2018 edition of the Model Dam Challenge, an initiative organized by Knight Pièsold (KP) Consulting to educate state-owned second-cycle schools on
engineering.

The 2018 Competition was held under the theme: “Dams: A hands-on Experience”, challenged science departments of the four participating schools to design a model dam for construction.

The participants were first given a briefing on the project, after which they were given two weeks to develop a sample as part of preparations towards the grand finale.

In the competition, Armed Forces SHS, placed second, whereas, Presbyterian
Boys SHS (PRESEC), Legon and O’Reilly SHS grabbed the third and fourth position, respectively.

St Mary’s SHS for its prize received an air- conditioner, a projector and a
projector screen, specifically meant for their science laboratory,
Whiles Armed Forces took away an air-conditioner and lab tools.

PRESEC Legon went away with a projector, whiles Oreilly grabbed an air-conditioner.

Mr Jeffrey Coffin, Regional Manager for KP Consulting, West Africa, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the contest, which was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility; was in line with the vision of creating the platform for the skills training for students.

He said the project dubbed ‘Schools Initiative Programme’ (SIP) aimed at encouraging students to venture into engineering education and as well build
their confidence `to take up challenges, as such, the judges tested the model dams on its ability to hold water.

Mr Coffin said the company was into the construction of bridges and dams, which fits into the current push of one district one factory, and one village one dam, and it was appropriate to inculcate these ideas, so the students can learn about the things around them.

He said the contest preceded with a workshop held two weeks ago and were given foundation setups so that they could practice on two different dam configurations, adding that “today we gave them a new setup to think through; and they were expected to use engineering and critical thinking to accomplish the goals of the programme”.

Mr Coffin lauded the skills showed by the schools, saying the level of
knowledge demonstrated by the various teams in the contest showed that they
had unique skills in engineering which needed to be harnessed to enhance
national development.

Mr Robert Boamah, Chairman of the SIP Planning Committee, also noted that for the past three years the initiative focused on model bridges, however, this year they decided to make it more challenging, by introducing something new which was in line with what KP Consulting does.

He said the 2018 edition witnessed previous winners and runners up of the last editions.

He explained that with the bridge model students were given materials, they
were trained, as they prepare the models and later present them to the SIP
team for assessment, but with the model dams the schools were given some
materials for sample work, whereas, they began with new foundation setups.

Mr Boamah said “we are impressed with the outcome and it implies they can
build on these skills and strive for excellence”.

He called on students to pursue engineering courses as there were more job
opportunities in the engineering field.

Madam Ama Nketiah, Senior Project Engineer at KP Consulting, urged female
students to develop self-confidence and pursue science, technology,engineering and mathematics education, for them to play a critical role in national development.

She said there were few female engineers, who were making great strides and
this should serve as a motivation to young females students to go into
engineering.

She said she was impressed with the performance exhibited by the participants in this year’s edition, saying “the addition of some features to the model showed they really understand the concept”.