New team ‘Lucknow Lasers’ beam their way to EB.(2008)

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One of the hot new teams getting fired up for this years’ event is the ‘Lucknow Lasers’.
Watch out for them in the HPV and Pushcart sections as they race around the track.
Breakthrough Reporter Ari King met with James Mulcahy, the Principal of Lucknow
Primary and asked a few questions to suss out how they are travelling ...

EB (Energy Breakthrough): Let's kick off with the basics, how big is Lucknow PS & where is it?

LL (Lucknow Lasers): We are a primary school of about 440 students from Lucknow in East Gippsland.

EB: As it is your team’s first year of competing, how have you found it so far?
LL: We are finding it very enjoyable. The students, parents and teachers have all been putting in a lot of effort. We are also very much indebted to two other local schools, Bairnsdale Primary School and Bairnsdale Secondary College, who have been helping us a great deal.

EB: Is the school taking part in EB as part of class at school, a club, or an extra-curricular activity?
LL: Part of school. We see it that they are learning a whole multitude of skills, including confidence, design, presentation, cooperation, teamwork and fitness. The children see it as a really good school opportunity.

EB: What aspect of EB have you found most difficult so far?
LL: Getting to understand what we’ve got to do. The students just want to get in there and do it, so we’ve got to try and get them to understand the presentations and construction that goes along with it.

 

EB: Is there an expectation to perform well in the event?
LL: If we can get there and complete everything we’ll be satisfied. There is no expectation to win gold. The team is doing it purely for the experience. We are doing something cooperatively with other schools and we are really pleased with the way the schools are working together to help each other out.

EB: Tell us a little bit about your vehicles
LL: What we did for our HPV was get a base kit which we are assembling and the children are learning how to go about putting it together. They are learning basic skills such as using drills, soldering irons and sign writing, and are getting great tuition through working with the Secondary College. We would have found it too difficult to start from scratch for our first time.

The pushcart however was done from scratch. The children sketched the design with chalk on concrete and then put the final design onto paper. They worked with parents to continually shape the design. We are really pleased with how it is coming along.

EB: Your aims for 2008?
LL: For the students to become very confident, articulate young citizens. It helps them step out into the world through a practical experience, mixing with schools across Victoria.

EB: Has your team developed a budget?
LL: Yes they have. The budget is about $12,000.
The school donated $5,500, and the rest is from sponsors and student payment to attend.
We're trying to set up a good budget for years to come.

EB: Any Major Sponsors?
LL: Many businesses have helped greatly, but a few in particular are Eastwood Corporation, Bairnsdale RSL, East Gippsland Water, Macnamara Builders, and Cosgro Engineering.

EB: What have been the rewards?
LL: There has been a very high level of commitment from the parents, students and community. Everyone wants it to succeed. They’re all working very hard to get there. Every student has a weekly fitness log and they are training very hard to get fit for the event. But the best reward is, as said before, the students obtaining all of the special skills that are required for EB.
We’ve found everyone that we’ve worked with on EB very supportive. It would have been very daunting without them. Everyone has been very helpful and it’s made a big difference, including John Stafford and the team at the Energy Breakthrough office.

"Everyone wants it to succeed. We’ve found everyone that we’ve worked with on EB very supportive. It would have been very daunting without them."

- James Mulcahy, Principal, Lucknow PS

Article written by Breakthrough Reporter Ari King, August 2008.
Images courtesy of Lucknow Primary School.

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