Students victorious in local Engineers Week activities

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  Engineers helped students reach new horizons in various activities and competitions during National Engineers Week, Feb. 22-28.

Local engineering societies joined in hosting a MathCounts® competition and a student design competition where students used their engineering skills to solve math problems and design problems. Student teams were awarded for their results and recognized at the Engineers Week Banquet which concluded the activities for the week.

"Involving students from the surrounding counties in activities of the week is a big part of promoting engineering," said Paul Ritter, the Engineers Week chairperson.

The Student Design Competition on Feb. 24 at the Tullahoma Hands on Science Center hosted 44 students from Moore County High School, The Webb School, Shelbyville Central High School, Tullahoma High School, Coffee County Central High School and Cascade High School.

The challenge presented to the students at the competition as instructed in the project guidelines was, "An evil warlord has barricaded himself inside a high-walled castle...With the limited resources you have available, you are tasked with developing a launcher to fire a projectile over the castle walls."

Given the parameters and provided materials, students built launchers that propelled them to victorious rankings in the competition.

Coffee County Central High School, with team members Jacob Parnham and Sam West, placed first. Second Place winners were team members Godwin Murillo and Bryan Oudomsouk with Cascade High School. Third place winners were team members Jake Crabtree and Grant Rigney with Tullahoma High School.

The second event of the week was Engineer For a Day.

"The second event...was held at Arnold Engineering Development Complex," Ritter said. "This event provided students the opportunity to interact with younger engineers and experience what it might be like to work in an engineering test environment."

The MathCounts competition on Feb. 28 at the University of Tennessee Space Institute was a local event where the winners were combined into a team that will compete at the state level and possibly at the national level. Six schools, including 51 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades, competed from Bedford, Coffee, Franklin and Lincoln counties.

The competition challenges mathletes to solve problems.

The Webb School from Bedford County placed first in the competition followed by second place team, West Middle School, Tullahoma; and third place team, East Middle School, Tullahoma. The Webb School is joined by the top four scoring individuals not on the winning team to complete the Tullahoma team who will compete at the state level. The team members are Carol Zhou, Jessie Song, Clare Beckett and Noah Johnson from The Webb School; Brandon Perry, Ruth Ann Terry and Aimee Christopher from West Middle School; and Trace Baxter, as well as alternates, Kelly Nguyen and Alyssa Williams, from East Middle School.

The top three scoring individuals in order of first to third place were Song, Brandon and Zhou.

Participating engineering societies included the Tullahoma Chapter of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, the Highland Rim Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Tennessee section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals, the Project Management Institute and the Arnold Association of Professional Societies.