Hundreds of high school students will descend upon San Diego State University to compete in a Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) competition at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 13.

The preliminary round of the competition occurred last month, and these students earned top honors from the five MESA centers that make up the southern region.

They hail from MESA centers located at University of California, Riverside, Chapman University, University of California, Irvine, San Diego State University and Imperial Valley to participate in the competition.

“MESA’s mission is to close the achievement gap that occurs within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), specifically, in under represented or educationally disadvantaged students,” said Marvin Maldonado, director of the MESA Schools Program at SDSU.

Closing the gap

The student teams started their projects at the beginning of the academic year with the incentive of meeting and competing at campus competitions.

There are seven different projects for which the students design, create blueprints and build prototypes.  The projects are:

• prosthetic arm
• bridge building
• egg drop
• mouse trap car
• model of a human brain
• impromptu speeches
• glider planes

The top three teams in each project advance to the regional competition, but throughout the competition day students are awarded prizes and certificates for their achievements.  On top of those awards, students gain valuable college preparation and a motivation to enter STEM careers.

The competition will take place in SDSU’s Exercise and Nutritional Science building, as well as Adams Humanities, and the glider competition will occur on the ENS field.

For more information visit the website.

More MESA competitions

After the high school regional competition, the middle school regionals will take place at SDSU’s Imperial Valley campus on Saturday, April 20.  The competition, which starts at 8:30 a.m., will consist of the same seven projects with slight adjustments for the different age group.

For more information visit their website.

All MESA competitions represent a collaboration between MESA centers and are heavily dependent on volunteers to make the day a success.

Read the story @ http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news.aspx?s=74194&utm_source=Newswatch+4%2F19%2F13&utm_campaign=11%2F2%2F12+analytics&utm_medium=email