500 HCPSS Students Compete In STEM Challenges

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — More than 500 Howard County Public School System students from 20 elementary, middle and high schools competed in a virtual HCPSS Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Day Competition.

MESA is an afterschool pre-college program that prepares students for academic and professional careers in mathematics, engineering, science and technology and in partnership with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Maryland MESA Program.

During the event, HCPSS students competed in several different science, technology, engineering and mathematics challenges, 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 elementary student’s choosing.
• National Engineering Design Challenge – Design a device using multiple technologies to solve a problem that minimizes or eliminates barriers to opportunities for success. This challenge was for middle and high school students only.