With a sudden hiss, António Gilberto took off, leaving behind a cloud of smoke.
This was the first rocket launched during the closing ceremony of the ‘Técnico Holiday Programme’ during the Easter 2024 school break. On the afternoon of April 5th, the various teams made up of secondary school students visiting Técnico launched the rockets they had built a few days earlier, celebrating a week full of activities showcasing research areas and techniques developed at Instituto Superior Técnico.
At the beginning of the week, in room C01, António Gilberto was taking shape. It was here, during the activity organised by the Aerospace Engineering Students’ organisation (AeroTéc), that the rockets began to be built. In one of the groups, the students Rodrigo, Gabriel and Luísa, with their elbows on the table, were focused on building their rocket.
Rodrigo came at the invitation of a friend: “As I’m in the 10th grade and I haven’t yet chosen which university to attend, I thought it would be good to gain some ‘experience’,” he explains, keeping his eyes on the ruler with which he was measuring the rocket’s structure. Luísa is in 12th grade and says she already has “a more concrete idea”. “I’m interested in studying Electrical and Computer Engineering here at Técnico”, she says.
Gabriel says he is “exploring various options”, feeling torn between Engineering Physics – which, in his opinion, is “a good subject to study with high graduate employability” – and other subjects more linked to “Medicine or Biology“. The activities in which he has participated so far have been “very well chosen”, allowing him to “learn more” about the School. Rodrigo interrupted his calculations to add “it looks like there’s going to be a lot of different activities”, judging by the rest of the event’s calendar.
Six students’ organisations and four laboratories to discover
The week was filled with different games and tasks. In addition to building a rocket, the students were challenged to program and assemble an Arduino circuit involving bananas used as piano keys, to create a unicorn company from scratch, including a pitch presentation to ‘sell’ this idea to their classmates, to play Monopoly adapted to the world of Biomedical Engineering and to develop a hydraulic claw using cardboard, syringes and silicone air tubes. In addition, to attending these activities organised by various Técnico students’ organisations, the secondary school students also had the opportunity to visit laboratories at research centres affiliated with Técnico, getting to know the work being done there and the researchers developing it.
At the door of the Diffraction and X-Ray Laboratory, located in the South Tower, Mariana shares that she follows Técnico on Instagram, through which she found out about the Técnico Holiday programme and, after visiting Futurália, she got more information and decided to register for this event. “I know I want to get into Técnico and I know I want to study Engineering. Which one?… I don’t know yet. As we’re going to participate in various activities this week, I think it’s a good opportunity to find out more”, explains the 12th grade student. As for her preference for Técnico, Mariana thinks that the School “gives me more opportunities – it’s a renowned institution, people have always been available to answer my questions and it’s always been my first choice”.
Back at the closing ceremony, and while António Gilberto and other rockets were being launched into the atmosphere, Sónia Ferreira praises the initiative, which she considers “very important”. The mother of one of the participants (who travelled from Moura to Lisbon to take part in this Holiday Programme), stresses that the students have “time to get in touch with the reality of Técnico”. Sónia explains that her daughter “started considering to study at Técnico when a group of Técnico students from the Student Support Unit (NAPE) visited her school” during a ‘university fair’. “Last year we were here for the Técnico Open Day and NAPE students told us about the Técnico Holiday Programme”, she says.
Once all the rockets have been launched and the prize has been awarded to the team that got the best score after all the challenges (the ‘Cachorros na Mala’, with 661 points), all that remains is the friendships created and the memories of a week spent at Portugal’s largest engineering, architecture, science and technology school.
Participating entities
The students’ organisations that participated in this edition of the ‘Técnico Holiday Programme’ were the Aerospace Engineering Students’ Organisation (AeroTéc), the Mechanical Engineering Students’ Organisation (Fórum Mecânica), the Electrical and Computer Engineering Students’ Organisation (NEEC), the Engineering Physics Students’ Organisation (NFIST) and the Junior Enterprises at Técnico (JUNITEC). Also participating in the field of Biomedical Engineering was the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Student Branch at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-EMBS).
The research centres that presented some of their laboratories and research spaces were the Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE), Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA), Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Microssistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN) and the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR).
