Congratulations to the Food Technology team comprising Maximillian Ballard, Ryan McEwen and Sophie Rees who were placed second in the Upper North Island CREST Student Product Development Challenge, hosted by the College at the end of Term 3. 

Jointly run by the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology, and the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Challenge gives teams of senior secondary school students the opportunity to explore creative solutions to practical, food science and technology problems while working with food industry mentors to develop an innovative new food product. The experience exposes students to the work done by scientists, technologists and engineers in NZ’s food industry and raises the profile of a career in the industry. 

This year, the College had two teams competing in the Challenge which saw 14 teams from 7 schools presenting their work to a judging panel. Each team provided samples of their product and were interviewed by panels of industry experts on their development process. 

Both Saint Kentigern teams were mentored by Old Collegian, Neala Ye who works for Frucor Beverage as a product development technologist. Both teams were given briefs from Frucor to develop beverages targeted at the 14 to 18 year old market. 

Second placed Team Hydro Melon (Maximillian Ballard, Ryan McEwen and Sophie Rees) developed a ‘natural’ sports beverage whilst the Highly Commended Team Coco-Berry (Aimee Hollis and Harrison Young) worked towards a‘better for your teeth’ beverage. 

The teams would like to acknowledge the contribution of their mentor, Neala Ye, to their success.

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