The IES Punta del Verde school in Seville triumphs at the National Olympiad of Civil Engineering, Canals and Ports held at the UBU

The Sevillians, who were already the winners of the local phase held last March at the ETSi, have obtained the best score of the 13 participating teams, one per public university that offers the Master's degree in Civil Engineering in Spain, which allows the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville to apply to organize the next edition of the National Phase of this Olympiad.

The team representing the Polytechnic School of the University of Burgos, the Sacred Hearts School, from Miranda de Ebro, has achieved a commendable second place, followed by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Multilingual School, from Pontevedra.

A total of 65 students from the first and second years of secondary school, accompanied by 20 teachers from their schools, traveled to Burgos as winners of their respective local phases. The heads of each school offering the Master's program also attended the Olympiad, allowing for the sharing of experiences and best practices.

The six tests – 5 from the local phases and one surprise – that each team had to face were spread throughout the morning across the facilities of the Milanera campus of the Higher Polytechnic School.

The six events that make up this Olympiad are related to 8 of the 17 SDGs defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the UN, approved in 2015.

Sofía Álvarez, representing the winning team, expressed her satisfaction with the victory: “It has been an incredible experience, and we were lucky enough to win through hard work,” she stated. Displaying commendable sportsmanship, she added, “Even if we hadn't won, I would have left this university extremely happy and proud of my team.” Sofía highlighted the difficulty of the tests: “Honestly, two or three of them were quite challenging for us.”.

Jesús Mínguez Algarra, coordinator of the Master's Program in Civil Engineering, stated that the goal is for "secondary school students to learn about our profession and, in the future, be encouraged to study it." Another organizer, Professor Hernán Gonzalo Orden, highlighted the enthusiasm and commitment shown by both teachers and students who came to Burgos and the impact that these types of activities can have: "Events like this can spark the interest of children and help them become the engineers that society needs.".

The director of the School of Engineering at the University of Burgos, Miguel Ángel Mariscal Saldaña, congratulated all the participants and highlighted the commitment of each participating center and university, not only in organizing their respective local phases, but also in traveling to Burgos from all over Spain. Finally, he emphasized the sponsorship of the Olympiad, through the Caminos Foundation, by the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports, and thanked its representative, the dean of the Castile and León branch, Jorge E. Lucas Herranz, who presented the first prize.

The Vice-Rector for Students, Verónica Calderón, reiterated her thanks and emphasized the care and seriousness with which the organizers prepared this activity.

The College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports, and the fourteen Schools that teach the Master's Degree in Civil Engineering, Canals and Ports and which gives access to this profession in Spain, have joined together to make the profession known among Secondary students and encourage their approach to the University.

One of the objectives of the Olympiad is to test the quick response and structural intuition of different groups of secondary school students working in teams. The tests vary in difficulty, but they allow us to understand the participants' leadership roles, their approach to problems, their teamwork skills, their ability to adapt to limited resources and tools, and so on.