Howard County Students Excel in MESA State Competition

May 31st, 2024

*Mt. Hebron High School placed first in the Community Cleanup Challenge at Maryland State Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Day.*

Several Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) schools took home top honors at the Maryland State Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Day competitions held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in May. More than 40 students from seven HCPSS schools took part in the competition, which brought together students from eight Maryland school districts and some private schools.

HCPSS students participated in several different science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) challenges during the state competition,
including:

Planetary Lander Challenge – Design and build a structure that allows astronauts to land successfully on the surface of another world.
Community Cleanup – Create a trash-collecting device to help clean up your community.
Wearable Technology Challenge – Design a respiration monitoring device for a breathing prosthetic infant.
Storybook Theme Park Ride – Design and construct a Theme Park Ride based on a book of the student’s choosing. (Elementary students only.)
National Engineering Design Challenge – Design a device using multiple technologies to solve a problem that minimizes or eliminates barriers to opportunities for success. (Middle and high school students only.)

*Atholton High School placed first in the Planetary Lander Challenge.*

Participating students prepared a variety of projects, including demonstration videos, posters, and design documents in response to these challenges. A group of judges, composed largely of community members, reviewed and scored the projects.

Grade Level	School	Competition	Honor
Elementary Schools	Longfellow	Community Cleanup Challenge	Second Place
	Longfellow	Wearable Tech	Second Place
Middle Schools	Patapsco	Community Cleanup Challenge	First Place
	Patapsco	National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC)	Third Place
	Thomas Viaduct	Planetary Lander Challenge	Third Place
High Schools	Atholton	Planetary Lander Challenge	First Place
	Mt. Hebron	Community Cleanup Challenge	First Place
	Atholton	National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC)	Second Place

To qualify for the state-level competition, schools had to place first at the Regional MESA Day, which was held in April. More than 500 students in grades 4 -12 from 20 HCPSS schools (elementary, middle and high) participated in the regional event.

Maryland MESA is a STEM initiative for students in grades 3-12 and designed to spark their interest in STEM education and STEM careers. MESA is a structured, afterschool, pre-college program that prepares students for academic and professional careers in mathematics, engineering, science, and technology and is offered in partnership with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Maryland MESA Program.