KAMLOOPS – Who cares if the groundhog’s still hiding in the windy month of March? TRU will be featuring fun for everyone Saturday, March 10th.
The latest in marine, automotive and industrial robotic technology will be on display while pastry chefs demonstrate their artistic skills at the TRU Techno Expo and competitors watch as their popsicle-stick bridges bend and break under hydraulic pressure.
The Expo, which will be held next Saturday in conjunction with the annual university-hosted Cariboo Regional Skills Competitions and Popsicle Stick Bridge Contest, was originally conceived as an open house to give parents and teacher-sponsors something to do on campus while high school students from six school districts within the Cariboo Skills Region compete in automotive, welding, joinery, electronics, carpentry and culinary arts from 9 am to 3:30 pm.
Starting at 9 am, both the Trades and Technology and Culinary Arts Centres will be open, and the public is invited to take in activities and displays both inside and outside the buildings.
The compound outside the Trades and Technology Centre will be filled with trucks, cars, boats, ATVs and other outdoor power equipment displayed by 23 regional businesses; meanwhile, inside the building, students and faculty from mechanical, electrical and electronics programs will demonstrate industrial robots, electromagnetism and other wonders of technology. Over in TRU’s Culinary Arts Centre, pastry chefs will entertain with sugar sculpting and chocolate decorating.
From 10 am to 3:30 pm, competitors in the 4th annual Popsicle-Stick Bridge Contest will be crossing their fingers and holding their breath as they watch to see how much pressure the bridges they constructed out of 100 popsicle sticks held together with white glue can take. For some, it’s over half a ton: the winning bridge out of a total of 72 entries last year took 1,070 lbs of pressure before giving way.
And on the other side of the curriculum, and in keeping with TRU’s comprehensive mandate, students from TRU’s academic programs will gather in the International Building to present papers and discuss scholarly topics at the 2nd annual Undergraduate Conference. Students from all backgrounds and disciplines in the arts and sciences will give papers or make other presentations discussing and sharing their intellectual experiences and opinions with their peers. Members of the public interested in attending may contact Kelly-Anne at 377-6074.
The TRU food kiosk will be open for service from 9 am to 3 pm.
For more info, please contact
Techno Expo & Skills Competition: Al Green at 828-5107 or green@tru.ca or check out: TRU Trades Skills.
Popsicle Bridge Contest: Ben Giudici at 250-828-5108
Undergrad Conference: Kelly-Anne Maddox at 377-6074
