David said the national event was run from the University of Newcastle and funded through groups and industry, and MET would now go on to compete at state level and, if successful there, would progress to a national level.

"I'm also the chairman of the local committee for the challenge, and all we have to do is organise the venue for it and the events helpers, who are all either Rotarians or post-graduates," he said.

"The activities run to a formula, the students are given the activity at the start of the day. There are six half-day activities here and two full-day activities.

"We had eight schools but we've got seven teams. One of the teams is a combined schools team from Guyra and Uralla and unfortunately Walcha had to pull out at the last minute."

The challenge has been running since 2000 and has grown to involve 100 Rotary Club and 30 Universities and 1000 schools by 2016. It aims to address the skills shortage in in science and engineering by inspiring an interest in maths, physics and chemistry in senior high schools.

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Challenge team leader from the University of Newcastle Chris Hendry said it was always good to start the calendar year off with a good event.

"We have heard lots of colloquial stories  over the years from teachers who have had increases in their physics, mathematics, chemistry classes that the attribute to this challenge," he said.

"We've also seen feedback from various universities that they've seen an uptake in the science and engineering disciplines."