The school was one of eight finalists to gather in Darwin for Friday’s competition.

Designed to test STEM skills among year 9 and 10 students, the challenge consisted eight activities, with four students from each team of 32 assigned to a different task.

Projects included constructing a bridge from common materials, designing and building model furniture, using a powered board to provide electricity to a city’s infrastructure, and making a water turbine that can harness the power of water as it flows over it.

RELATED STORIES:

Winners from each activity were crowned throughout the day, with the overall victor having the biggest combined total. 

A score of 1320 was enough to secure the title for LCS, which also topped the Helter Skelter Shelter and World Sailing Spectacular categories.

It was a bittersweet moment for the school, which lost teacher Matthew Kuipers to cancer earlier this year.

LCS head of science Darryl Bain said his friend and colleague would have travelled to Darwin if he was able.

“This win is significant for our school as we remember Matthew,” he said.

“He sowed a lot into the lives of our team members.”

The school’s Science and Engineering Challenge journey began at the end of May with the regional competition, which was held at the University of Tasmania.

From there, they progressed to the state finals, which were held the following week.

Since then, the school has had to raise more than $30,000 to fund the trip to Darwin.

Mr Bain said they had received a wealth of support from different sections of the community.

“Competing at the national level is an amazing experience and our students had to work very hard to raise the necessary funds,” he said.

“In the end, travelling to places like Darwin is only made possible by generous support of our school community and sponsors.

“The Vos Group were our major sponsor this year, and have also been very supportive in the past.”