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JETS
Engineering Competition |
http://www.jets.org/TEAMS/about/index.cfm
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Every
year, the Junior Engineering Technical Society hosts a
nationwide competition for students grades 9-12. It
lets students discover the practical applications of
engineering, math, and physics by challenging them to solve
various exciting engineering problems. The theme of
the 2009 competition was Behind the Scenes: The
Engineering of Theme Parks. |
The
local Boston host was Harvard University. It
turned out there was great interest in the competition among the
BLA physics students, so Ms. Hansel and I enrolled two teams of 8
students each to compete. The teams consisted primarily
of our 10th graders, but some Honors and Advanced
Placement students also participated.
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In the months
leading up to
the competition, we met with the students once or twice a
week and practiced for the competition. These sessions were
very informal, and we usually shared snacks while working through
problems together.
Our
teams did fairly well at the competition. Out of the four
participating teams, our two teams finished second and fourth
overall, the former winning the junior varsity bracket. |
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In
addition to the competition itself, I collaborated with graduate
students at Harvard to arrange tours in real research labs on
campus, which proved very exciting for our students. We
visited robotics and mechanical engineering labs, as well as
various bio-engineering and soft condensed matter labs. (For
a list of all the lab tours, click
here.)
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During
lunch, which was paid for by Harvard, Harvard undergraduate
students came and chatted with our students about life in college,
and after the competition was over, the Harvard organizers and I
had arranged for free tickets to the Harvard Natural History
Museum for everyone interested.
I
highly recommend entering your students into TEAMS if they are
interested! It was a great and rare experience for the
students. If you are willing to spend some extra time
arranging additional events, there are rich opportunities for the
students to explore Harvard's graduate and undergraduate life.
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