Success in a competition to design new gates for the Rotary Pathway has also netted Hawke's Bay students national design awards.
Thomas Daulton, from Lindisfarne College, has won the secondary school category of the nationwide Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers' Awards, a competition run by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ).
He earned $1000 for his school.
Havelock North Intermediate received a merit award for its collective effort of five teams of students from Doug Sutherland's technology elective class. They won $500.
The design challenge was sponsored jointly by the Hawke's Bay branch of IPENZ, Hawke's Bay Regional Council and Futureintech. It was open to all Hawkes' Bay intermediate and high school students.
Only students from Havelock North Intermediate and Lindisfarne College completed the challenge, with Lindisfarne College winning and a Havelock North Intermediate team awarded highly-commended runner-up at the awards ceremony last week.
Thomas' design allows cyclists to pass through a gate without dismounting and is being looked at by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for development.
Originally from Gisborne, Thomas, a boarder at the school, said the design brief was given to him by his technology teacher Darren Brown as part of his NCEA level 2 course.
"Time was my greatest challenge but the great help I received from Mr Brown and Andy Gunson, of Transfield Worley, helped me get it finished on time," Thomas said.
"Mr Gunson's sponsorship meant I could make a full-size final working solution. I enjoyed welding it up in the workshop."
He said a solution that allowed bicycles through but not motorcycles took a while to find.
Havelock North Intermediate students Josh Smith, Bradleigh Lugt, Aiden Smith, and Sam Allen were highly commended runners-up, with their design for a rotating gate topped by a novel vandal-proof chain.
Students from the two schools made site visits to the Rotary Pathway and had meetings with their "client", Hawke's Bay Regional Council design engineer Neil Daykin.
There were 13 criteria for the design brief including allowing cyclists, walkers, wheelchairs and pushchairs through, while stopping stock and ensuring the flood banks were protected. The designs also had to work without power.
The presentations of the Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers Awards will be held later this month.
Thomas plans to be an engineer or a farmer.
