HCPSSHoward County Students Shine at STEM Competition
April 15th, 2016
Students in the Maryland Mathematics Engineering and Science Achievement Program (MESA) representing the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) excelled at the Maryland Regional MESA Day competitions. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Laurel, Maryland hosted the competitions on Wednesday, March 23.
The science, technology, engineering and mathematics competitions included events for students at the elementary, middle and high school grade levels. Students competed in cyber security and computer programming contests by designing programs and debugging systems that had been infected with a virus by JUAPL engineers and scientists. Other students built bridges out of bass and balsa wood under strict guidelines that evaluated the structural integrity of the bridges. The creative and innovative abilities of students were considered in events such as effective communications and theme park ride design. The construction and racing of a hovercraft was also a part of this year’s events. Middle and high school students competed in the Prosthetic Arm Challenge, with the winner being able to compete for a chance to represent Maryland in the national event in Ogden, Utah in June.
This year’s competition included over 340 students from 13 HCPSS elementary, middle and high schools. The winning HCPSS schools were St. Johns Lane Elementary School, Murray Hill Middle School and Oakland Mills High School. Lake Elkhorn Middle School and Long Reach High School won the Prosthetic Arm competition at their respective levels.
The overall winners at each level, and the winners of the Prosthetic Arm competition, will move on to represent Howard County at the Maryland Statewide MESA competition on May 19, 2016, also at JHUAPL.