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Newbury College Showcases Engineering Talent
Created on 7.7.2010
Talented Engineering students at Newbury College stepped out of their comfort zone last week to present their technology projects at a public exhibition, which was held at the Monks Lane Campus. Each of the learners had been studying either an HNC or HND in mechanical engineering on a day release basis from their employer. The event was a great opportunity to showcase their work and demonstrate what they had achieved over the academic year.
Newbury College staff, student’s employers and family and friends were invited to the presentation evening, which was not only interesting and informative, but also a great communication exercise for the students.
Martin Barr, HNC Engineering student, works at the local attraction Thorpe Park. As a live project, Martin designed the maintenance procedure for the ‘Stealth’ ride, which has subsequently been implemented by the theme park. This ride is Europe’s highest and fastest launched roller coaster, reaching 80mph in less than two seconds and producing a g-force of 4.5G. The same mechanism is used to launch this ride that launch aircrafts from a carrier.
Martin explained, “The maintenance procedure I designed has dramatically reduced the ‘downtime’ on the ride, which means that more people can experience this exciting ride each day!”
Graham Shelmerdine, course tutor, was thrilled with the student’s effort and said, “When you are studying for a qualification, you quickly pick up the in-house terminology and it becomes second nature. It was useful for the students to have to step-back from the technical side and explain their work to people who had little knowledge of the subject. Overall, the evening was a great success. I was really pleased with the positive comments from everyone that visited. Next year we hope to make it even bigger and better!”
For further information about Newbury College’s Engineering courses, which start in September, call 01635 845000 or email info@newbury-college.ac.uk