On Wednesday, 28 June and Thursday the 29th, a team of six students from The Fallibroome Academy, made their way to Cranfield University, Milton Keynes to compete in the finals of a national competition.

The Faraday Challenge is a competition comprising over 3000 schools, 1000 teams, 6500 students and 178 events.

Fallibroome Academy and their adversaries are considered to be among the top 0.5% of the 'Best Young Engineers' in the UK.

The team was composed of 6 students, these being - Tanvi Kutty, Irma Bogentoft, Grace Hartley, Ralph Gibbon, Leo De Jager and Han Voon. This was the team that ultimately won 1st place. However it wasn't all talks and exploring the campus. The brief was enclosed in a sealed envelope, and given to each individual team in such a way that all teams hypothesised each brief was different, meaning no team would be able replicate others' design.

Having only 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the prototype, the students started planning on Wednesday evening. They contemplated their idea till 12:00 PM and started again at 07:00 AM. Yet they encountered a major problem an hour before the competition, realising their design was not futuristic enough. 

Teachers were not allowed to advise or help, being only chaperones to the event and snack waiters. To the relief of her team, 10 minutes before the event, Grace Hartley came up with a small but lightbulb idea in the coach to Cranfield University. Based on that small idea, Tanvi Kutty sketched out a new prototype in the back of a jerky, rattling bus. Han Voon confirmed they had the materials to make it and Irma Bogentoft made sure the circuits were possible to make. Once their time had started, the team were back on their feet and eventually, all circuits and components worked as planned and their accounting was perfect thanks to Grace Hartley. 

Their final design was merely a simple box until it was opened. A spinning door on the front allowed the theoretical drone to enter and land on a pressure pad ( designed and made by Leo De Jager ) that activated a light.This light charged the drone whilst an arm ( mainly done by Irma Bogentoft, Han Voon and Leo De Jager) unloaded the packages. Whilst the electricians were at work, Ralph Gibbon and Tanvi Kutty worked on the final presentation. 

When the time came to present to the judges, all went smoothly and after all teams had presented their prototypes we waited in suspense. There were 3 talks about the future of engineering while we awaited the results. *Yet in spite of the interesting talks no one could wait for the results as a consequence of all the brilliant presentations and nerves.

Like motors running, a crescendo of excitement built up as they were not announced in the first 3 runners up. Energy crackled amongst them and as they were declared the winners, all the previous tension, exhilaration and anticipation was finally let loose.They held the trophy and cheque of £1000 for the school in front of the brilliant minds of the best young engineers in the UK. Just as they thought all the awards were announced, they were told that all the competing students had received The Industrial Cadets STEM Bronze Award ( the Arts Award but for STEM) by being a part of the competition.