19th Annual Olympics & Robotics Competition

DSCN2815 — The Olympics testing the mental fortitude of the students

The 19th Annual MESA Olympics & Robotics Competition took place on Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 8:30 – 2:00 pm at San Diego City College.

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

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

robotics challenge 1 — Teams competing in the head-to-head aspect of the Robotics Competition

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:

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.
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).
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.

This year, for the first time, a Prosthetic Arm competition for middle school students was included in the event. Two groups created a prosthetic arm using materials provided to them. The projects were judged on dexterity and design.

Big thanks to our industry and staff volunteers!

MESA alumni and current industry members Maria Charles of Hamilton Sundstrand and Brianna Lutes of Infrastructure Engineering Corporation proctored the Levels 2 and 3 Olympics exams, respectively. Other Industry Advisory Board members who volunteered in judging and in the awards ceremony were:

Wedad Schlotte from NAVAIR Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW)

John Kammeyer from MWH Global, Inc.

Ryan Gordon from MWH Global, Inc.

Peggy Humphres from MWH Global, Inc.

Competition results:

Prosthetic Arm Competition:

2nd place overall winners (silver medal & E-Reader (Kindle))

Mann Middle School