The Harker School students went "Behind the Scenes" in February at Stanford University and experienced the engineering involved in designing, building and running America's theme parks. In doing so, they competed against more than 1,200 other teams in 40 states and the Virgin Islands.
Each year, JETS, through its TEAMS competition, provides students in grades nine through 12 with the opportunity to make real-world connections between math and science to engineering by solving actual engineering scenarios.
The winning Harker School students are Hanh Dang, Daniel Kim, Tsung-Ju Lu, Kartik Venisatraman, Kevin Wang, Kevin Wu, Nikita Sinha and Jeff Mandell.
As the highest-ranking team in the country, the eight male and female students receive for their school $5,000 and a trophy, plus individual certificates of excellence. Fittingly, the Walt Disney World Resort also has awarded the team a three-night stay at Walt Disney World, including Park Hopper Tickets, and the opportunity to take part in one Disney Youth Education Series program of their choice.
"We want to congratulate all the students who participated in this year's TEAMS competition. Having so many young people show an interest in engineering and technology careers is important for the future of our country and society in general," said Peter Carrato, JETS board president and Bechtel Fellow. "We also want to thank the companies and organizations who sponsored TEAMS students this year and our 108 competition sites, including colleges and universities around the country, as well as local high schools."
"Our mission at JETS is to expose as many of today's students as possible to the various engineering careers available to them, to show them how engineering impacts everyday life and to demonstrate in very concrete ways that engineers solve social problems as well as technological ones," said Linda Snow-Solum, senior director, Rockwell Collins. "This year we wanted students to understand that engineers play a key role in making possible all the fun and excitement they and their families experience at amusement parks."
The students were challenged to solve eight different real-life theme park engineering scenarios. Among them were scenarios that dealt with how biological, chemical and mechanical engineers maintain the health and welfare of large water mammals like dolphins and Orca whales; how animatronics engineers create special effects at theme parks and the entertainment industry, at large; and, how electrical, mechanical, structural and other engineers work together to design and operate everything from roller-coasters to merry-go-rounds to water slides.
JETS named six other divisional finalist teams at both the varsity and junior varsity levels. They include:
Varsity (team includes at least one senior high school student) Division #1 - Sheffield Area Middle High School, Sheffield, Pa. Division #2 - Harker School, San Jose, Calif. Division #2 - Harker School, San Jose, Calif. (National winner) Division #3 - St. Charles Preparatory School, Columbus, Ohio Division #5 - Clayton High School, Clayton, Mo. Division #7 - New Canaan High School, New Canaan, Conn. Division #9 - Libertyville High School, Libertyville, Ill.
Junior Varsity (team includes freshmen, sophomore and/or junior high school students)
Division #1 - Meridian Technical Charter High School, Meridian, Idaho Division #2 - Horace Mann School, Riverdale, N.Y. Division #3 - Badin High School, Hamilton, Ohio Division #5 - Clayton High School, Clayton, Mo. Division #7 - New Canaan High School, New Canaan, Conn. Division #9 - Sycamore High School, Cincinnati, Ohio
About JETS and TEAMS
JETS is the leading non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting engineering and technology careers to America's youth. From coordinating exciting student competitions to providing top academic resources and career exploration materials, JETS is helping students make informed decisions about their futures and developing a new generation of engineers.
Like the other signature JETS programs, the purpose of TEAMS is to encourage more American students to pursue engineering by showing them just how engineering impacts everyday life and how engineers help solve social and community problems - from building roads and bridges, to developing water purification systems for developing countries, to inventing alternative sources of energy to fuel our cars and keep our homes warm and cool.
Each year, JETS programs touch more than 40,000 students and 10,000 educators from 6,000 high schools across the country. JETS participants are a diverse group -- more than 50 percent are from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in engineering and technology fields, including one-third who are female.
For more information, visit www.JETS.org.