Girls sail close to design win
A TEAM of young design engineers from The King’s Girls’ Division narrowly finished second in a region-wide competition to design a computer program to help Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie.
The team of six had six hours to develop and present two ideas to help complement Ben Ainslie’s sailing skills and help him qualify for and win the America’s Cup in Bermuda next year.
They came up with a program to protect sailors from overheating and to create a motion sensor to allow quick tacking.
The challenge, organised by The Institute of Engineering and Technology, was designed to test intellectual, teamworking and business skills, and saw the girls divided into specific roles covering project management, programming and design.
Chief designer Connie Jordan, 12, from Macclesfield, said: “The most important thing was to work as a team, be organised and make best use of the time.
“We were successful because we co-operated and worked together.”
After being tied for first place for most of the competition, the King’s Girls’ Division were pipped to the winning slot in a tie-breaker.
The girls’ physics teacher, Daniel Deakin said: “There is a nationwide drive to encourage more young women to take up jobs in the STEM subjects. But our girls need no encouragement; they love the creativity and discipline of these subjects.”