By Kevin Dudley, WSU Spokane
SPOKANE, Wash. – Student teams from Salk Middle School and Rogers High School took home first place finishes recently at the MESA State Championship at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, Wash. Salk will represent Washington at the MESA (mathematics, engineering, science achievement) National Competition June 22-25 in Ogden, Utah.
The Spokane MESA program (https://spokane.wsu.edu/about/mesa/) – based out of Washington State University Spokane – sent teams from Cheney and Salk middle schools and Rogers and Shadle Park high schools.
The teams representing Salk and Shadle Park competed in the Prosthetic Arm Competition where they designed, built and used a prosthetic arm that would fit over their own arm. They used electronics and programming to operate the arm.
The teams were required to write a technical paper, inform the judges of their design process through an oral presentation and create an academic display.
Cheney Middle School and Rogers High School competed in the Computer Simulation Challenge where they produced a computer simulation that teaches the user a lesson or skill. The challenge is not part of the national competition.
The teams were scored on the simulation as well as a technical paper, oral presentation and academic display.
The Rogers High School simulation focused on first aid while hiking and taught users how to find items in nature to serve as a splint for a rolled ankle. Cheney Middle School’s simulation focused on atmospheric science lessons that the students were learning in class.
Contact:
Curt Sande, Spokane MESA, 509-358-7965, sande@wsu.edu
