1. Prizes and Prestige.
Asked to list reasons to enter the Contest, Mary Kay Provaznik, a graduate student in hydrology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, responded, "What, you mean besides the money?!" Contestants in the Contest will be eligible to win approximately $10,000 in cash contributed by the Contest's sponsors. In adition, university students are eligible to compete for college scholarships. Winning the Contest also means holding some "bragging rights" for the following year. Hydro Review magazine will publicize winners' names. And, news releases about the Contest will be sent to competitors' hometown newspapers. This recognition can be important, said Brad Bida, an undergraduate student at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He said regional newspaper coverage of his teams' first place finish in the Student Division provided valuable exposure for his school, which has a large enrollment of Crees, Mohawks, and other natives.
2. An opportunity to travel to Portland, Oregon, the site of the 2006 Contest.
Often, student competitors work to secure sponsorships from local businesses or civic groups to help offest the cost of traveling to the Contest. Not only do contestants participate in the event, they enjoy being tourists in the host city, and such will be the case in Portland.
3. Job hunting opportunities.
One of the key motives for developing the Contest in the first place was to introduce students to hydropower and to provide a forum for students to network with hydro plant owners, operators, design engineers, equipment manufacturers, environmentalists, and regulators. Such networking has led students to actual jobs after graduation. For example, both Mel Eakins and Carl Atkinson met their first engineering employers when participating as students in the Hydro Power Contest. Rand Decker, a professor at the University of Utah, added that prospective employers are impressed with a student who has waited tables or painted houses for tuition money, but "really pick up on someone who has participated in and won an international design competition."
4. Insight into a key worldwide industry.
By participating in the Contest, which is part of a major international hydro conference, contestants gain an "insiders" view of what the hydroelecteic industry is all about, particularly its multifaceted nature. Many entrants have reported that colleges now teach high-tech sciences, giving students the idea that hydropower (and other established industries) is a "mature technology," with little room for change or innovation. However, the HydroVision 2006 conference and exhibition promises to expose numerous challenging career paths in hydropower. Hydro Power Contest entrant Brad Bida, of Lakehead University, had decided to study chemical engineering, and wondered whether hydro had a place for him. "I talked with professionals at the convention, and learned there is a place for me. They need new materials, alloys and polymers, designs for waterways. There are a lot of jobs out there." Another contestant, African-American Eric Alan Nelson, of San Diego State University, said the conference opened his eyes to the possibility of hydropower as a career. "I moved from having no interest in hydropower to being very interested," he said.
5. The learning experience.
Michael Coates, consultant, and now the Contest Administrator, described the experience as "kinesthetic," where one learns by touching, rather than by seeing or hearing alone. He explained, "Some call it 'hands-on,' but it's more than that. When you are actually touching and handling your work project, your brain works differently than when you read a book, listen to a lecture, or write out a homework problem."
6. Gaining teamwork skills.
Many entries in the Contest are the product of teams, which reflects how most projects are accomplished in industry. Richard McCallan, a graduate student in civil engineering at Nebraska-Lincoln, with his team, Them!, placed third in the Student Division. He said fabrication of the school's entry began as a contest between five groups in a hydraulics class. After his group won the class contest, the time came to build the Hydro Power Contest entry. "There were a series of meetings to exchange information, to pull together the best ideas from the other four groups," he said. "It was the little things, refinements. During the summer, we upgraded the project more than we had in class. It was the team that did it."
7. Self-satisfaction.
This appeal, certainly, involves the obvious: winning, placing, showing. Djuna Gulliver, then age 12 and a sixth grader from New Brighton, Minnesota, competed with her device and took third place in the Open Division. She said, "Third prize was not my biggest accomplishment. It was overcoming my fear enough to compete and perform in the turbine contest."
8. Challenges.
Several entrants have discussed this aspect of the Contest. Challenges presented by the Contest often are more subtle than immediate self-satisfaction, and probably more important. On a personal level, each entrant emerges with a sense of how much more there is to learn. Mike Coates said, "Every entrant I've met, regardless of how far they went, has a picture in mind of the device they will build next; of improvements to the take-up mchchanism, the turbine, the water delivery system." In addition, entrants are amazed to discover how many ways there are to solve the same problem. As Pro Division competitor Matt Gass, engineering manager of Hetch Hetchy Water and Power, said, "There is no right or wrong approach as long as the problem is solved."
9. Moving from theory to practice.
Engineering students primarily study theory, which is to be expected. However, the Hydro Power Contest allows students to put theory into practice. They actually construct the solution to a real-life problem. Benefits extend beyond the knowledge required to design and manufacture a device. When demonstrating the device before the judges, entrants display the skill and confidence necessary to adapt to any problems that arise.
10. The Contest is fun!
Stuart Higgs, owner of a small hydro plant in Yreka, California, and a first-place winner in the first two competitions, expressed the sense of fun better than anyone when describing what it's like to be a contestant: "There is nothing more positive than seeing old freinds and making new ones. I guess we are a peculiar family of people who like to play with falling water."
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