In teams of no more than four per crew, year 10 students from Orange High, Kinross Wolaroi, Orange Anglican Grammar School, Orange Christian School and James Sheahan battled against one another in the day-long competition, where around 150 high schoolers were in voluntary attendance.

"It was something that was offered to us in class," OAGS' Archie Casey said, concentrating on the group's suspension of their 'Mars Rover' model with rubber bands, "and we were like, yeah - we're interested!"

An acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, the day's STEM challenges inspire students to push themselves across the areas of problem-solving, teamwork and critical thinking - where they're encouraged to master real-world scenarios and tally points for the highest scores in each activity.

"We had to come up with a turbine, so it had to go in a water tank and get a certain amount of revs per minute and the team with the highest revs will win," Kinross Wolaroi's Halle Doyle said.

"So, we started off with our original idea of using the corners of our polystyrene foam plate and having paddles and as we did a few more attempts and trials, we learned ways to change and alter it so it could gradually get faster - and our final one was 201 revs per minute."

There for fun yet hopeful to win, the group were in front by 50 revs around lunchtime, with more challengers waiting to beat their highest score throughout the day.

Though, and said to be the highlight of the day, is the Bridge Building Finale - a task where the strength of students' self-created bridges are tested by placing increasing weight onto them - which, in 2021, Orange Christian School took out for the win.

And they did it again in this year's challenge.

"Yes, Orange Christian school did it again this year and won the bridge challenge," Rotary Club of Orange North member, Doug Allen said.

"And James Sheahan ended up winning the day overall and getting the trophy for the most points across all of the challenges."

The Rotary Club of Orange North hosted the event again this year, with Catholic Education Diocese of Bathurst's education officer of science, STEM and partnerships, Jan Mendham saying wouldn't be possible without the help of 20 of its members' help.

"The event wouldn't happen without the support of the rotary club [and its] members who help in the set-up, marking and judging of the competition," Ms Mendham said, "so, it is a big day for everyone involved!"

Sponsored by the University of Newcastle, Cadia Mines also made a generous donation to the event, covering lunch costs for all students, members of the rotary club, visitors, university and school staff.

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