The 18th Annual MESA Olympics & Robotics Competition took place on Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 8:30 – 2:00 pm at San Diego City College.

94 MESA students & staff across the MESA programs at San Diego State University, San Diego City College, Southwestern College, and from high schools in San Diego and Imperial Valley who are part of the MESA Schools Programs in their counties participated in the competition.

The competition segments in problem-solving sessions and/or robotics competition designed to promote teamwork, engineering and problem solving skill development.

The OLYMPICS competition has teams of 4 students solve technical problems in mathematics, chemistry, physics and engineering. The competition is broken down in 3 academic levels:

1. Level 1 is the beginner level. Students competing at this level are high school seniors or freshmen. The competition worksheet includes problems from Introduction to Chemistry, Algebra, Trigonometry, and Pre-Calculus.
2. Level 2 is the intermediate level. Students competing at this level are college freshmen and sophomores. The competition worksheet includes problems up through General Chemistry, 1st and 2nd semester Calculus (high school equivalent is A.P. Calculus), and 1st semester Physics (i.e. Mechanics).
3. Level 3 is the advanced level. Students competing at this level are juniors and seniors. The competition worksheet contains problems up through Calculus 3, Differential Equations, Physics 2 + 3 (i.e. Electromagnetism), Statics, Dynamics, Fluids, Ethics, and other E.I.T. material.

The ROBOTICS competition uses the LEGO Mind storm NXT 2.0 robotics kits for teams of 4 students to build robots to complete 2 challenges-an obstacle course, and a head-to-head competition. The exact nature of the obstacle course and battle will be distributed with the Robotics kits after teams are formulated beginning March 23rd. Only 3 robotics teams are allowed per campus.

MESA alumni and current industry members Maria Charles of Hamilton Sundstrand and Hattie Perez of NAVAIR proctored the Levels 1 and 2 Olympics exams, respectively.  Mrs. Charles also donated $10 iTunes giftcards and 8GB PNY flash drives for use as prizes.

Competition results:

Robotics Competition:

3rd place overall winners (bronze medal & wireless mouse):

Imperial Valley – Holtville High

1. Luis Lopez
2. Raul Gonzalez
3. Josue Mejia

2nd place overall winners (silver medal & Duracell MyGrid charging pad):

San Diego State University

1. Jose Luis Espinosa
2. Josue Quinonez
3. Cody Alcantar
4. Renae Anderson

1st place overall winners (gold medal & portable hard drive):

Southwestern College

1. Adrian DeLeon
2. Jehir Imperial
3. Austin McGuyver

Olympics Competiton:

3rd place Level 3 winners (bronze medal & $10 iTunes giftcard):

San Diego City College

1. Han Nguyen
2. Jorge Gomez
3. Ashley Pourarazy
4. Jacqueline Lagunas

2nd place Level 3 winners (silver medal & 8GB PNY flash drive):

Southwestern College

1. Alfredo Perez
2. Elba Gonzalez
3. Prabath Herath
4. Johan Arias

1st place Level 3 winners (gold medal & 2GB wireless laser pointer presenter):

San Diego State University

1. Arielle Nuspl
2. Brandon Pollack
3. Carlos Jimenez
4. Phillip Patague

Olympics Competition:

3rd place Level 2 winners (bronze medal & $10 iTunes giftcard):

San Diego State University

1. Trang Duong
2. Jastine Ortiz
3. Diane Aceveda
4. Alejandro Castro

2nd place Level 2 winners (silver medal & 8GB PNY flash drive):

Southwestern College

1. Ulises Medina
2. Imran Yasin
3. Ian Colinas
4. Yuri Swarovski

1st place Level 2 winners (gold medal & digital voice recorder):

San Diego State University

1. Whitney Boehm
2. Hoang “Susie” Nguyen
3. Emerson Revolorio
4. Henok Tadesse

Olympics Competition:

3rd place Level 1 winners (bronze medal & $10 iTunes giftcard):

San Diego City College

1. Alvaro Valera
2. Jessenia Lara
3. Alondra Galvan

2nd place Level 1 winners (silver medal & 8GB PNY flash drive):

Imperial Valley – Holtville High

1. Luis Lopez
2. Raul Gonzalez

1st place Level 1 winner (gold medal & 1GB wireless laser pointer presenter):

Southwestern College

1. Stephanie Hernandez
2. Ramira Rodriguez
3. Maite Totorika
4. Eskefanra Rojas

Videos (check out more videos at the San Diego MESA Alliance YouTube channel – Olympics & Robotics playlist).

Photo gallery: