By Eleanor Wilson
Students at Narre Warren North Primary School proved the state of Australia’s future Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) industry is in safe hands, as they capped off a week of STEM activities on Friday 10 June.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) engineers and representatives were given the difficult task of judging the students’ construction themed dress up day and bridge building contest.
“It was fantastic to see the primary school students celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths week with our Major Road Projects team – helping to raise awareness for the nearby Narre Warren North Upgrade and future career opportunities in construction,” Mr Donnellan said.
Crews from MRPV visited the primary school during 6-10 June to celebrate STEM week and educate children about future career opportunities in the wider construction industry, as well as raise road awareness for the nearby Narre Warren North Upgrade.
Students participated in activities including a career in construction presentation, road safety sessions, bridge building activities and even a site visit to the Narre Warren North Upgrade.
“We were thrilled to celebrate STEM week with the local schools – I could see plenty of budding engineers among them,” said program director Brendan Pauwels.
Nine-year old student Alina took home a hamper of goodies for her homemade bridge, which impressed MRPV crews with its water weighted coca-cola bottle support beams and a hand crafted car crash fit with witches hats and ‘slow down’ signs.
“Without the water, the coke bottles may have made my bridge fall over and adding water in my coke bottles would weigh the bridge down so it would be able to stand up,” she said.
In recent months, Major Roads Projects Victoria have been building a new shared user path from Belgrave-Hallam Road to Heatherton Road which was opened to the public on Friday 10 June.
Works have begun to upgrade the Ernst Wanke Road intersection with new bus stops on the departure side of the intersection – set to open up by mid-July.
Works are complete on the backfilling of the Troups Creek Culvert, and drainage and pavement works have commenced.
Asphalting of the new northbound carriageway is due to commence early July, subject to weather.
By mid-July, the new bus stop and footpath on Memorial Drive will be complete, before works start on the second stage of upgrading the intersection.
