Macleans College students make history by winning New Zealand Engineering Science Competition

Bruce Zhang (Mansfield House), Alston Yam (Mansfield), Tony Yu (Rutherford) and Jay Zhao (Rutherford) took part in this annual nationwide problem-solving competition for secondary school students in August, with results being announced this week.

Organised by the University of Auckland’s Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering, the day-long mathematical modelling competition required each team to assemble a report to answer the question: “How much electrical power will be required due to New Zealanders adopting the use of generative AI?”

This achievement by the Macleans College team is particularly special as the competition is primarily aimed at Year 12 and Year 13 students. For a Year 11 team to win is an outstanding effort. This is the first time in the history of the competition that a Year 11 team has taken out first place.