Martinuscollege students help farmers in Spain with drought problems

The physics students from HAVO 5 left for the Spanish region of Andalusia last Sunday with two teachers and a Belgian former teacher. “Every year we have a project with the Martinus College in the context of technical automation, with a current theme. It is very dry in Spain. There is too little water, which causes problems for the energy supply,” explained teacher Cathy Baars. last week to.

Kimi Ottens and Susanna Juckers, both 16 years old, spend their days in Spain report of the trip. Last night the students presented their ideas that they came up with for the Spaniards. Susanna: “That was great fun to do. There were a number of farmers from the Netherlands who had emigrated, but farmers from Spain also came to watch our presentation. After our presentation we got many new ideas to solve their problems.”

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For example, solutions have been devised for a farmer who often has to deal with power outages, says Kimi from Grootebroek. “And a farmer who wants to collect the dew in the morning to water the land,” adds Susanna from Hoogkarspel. For this purpose, the students, working in different groups, have devised a kind of spiral shape that collects the water droplets and allows them to drain into a container below.

According to Kimi, the presentations went well yesterday. “It seemed like a nice village evening,” he explains further. “We stood under a large canopy, with a large screen on which everything could be seen. The farmers also talked to each other afterwards to exchange ideas.”

With the knowledge they gained last night, the students went out today to stock up on supplies. Tomorrow they will develop the ideas into prototypes. “We will present these designs again to the farmers in Spain in the afternoon,” the students say.

After the presentations there will be a celebration and dinner and it will be an early bedtime before the return journey begins. They will be back in Grootebroek on Thursday afternoon.