Craik students overall state winners at MESA contest

Friday, June 6, 2008

Teams from Craik placed in three of the four elementary level competitions.

A team from Craik tied for first place in the On-Site Mathematics: Slope⁄Rate of Change competition. A Craik team also earned first place in the Scratch Banner competition and second place in the Basswood Bridge competition.

Awards were given for first-, second- and third-place teams and one overall state elementary school winner was chosen. The school that earns the most points throughout the competition is chosen as the overall winner.

Teams from General Smallwood Middle School and Henry E. Lackey High School also competed at the state level.

Teams from Smallwood placed in all four secondary level competitions. They earned second place in the Trebuchet competition, and third place in the Effective Communications, Basswood Bridge and Hovercraft competitions.

First-place winners at the state level in the Trebuchet competition advance to the National MESA Engineering Challenge next month. A national MESA competition for elementary level students has not been established.

Charles County schools competed as a separate Maryland MESA region this year, due to growth of participation in the program.

During the 2006-07 school year, six county elementary and six middle schools, as well as three county high schools, competed in the regional competition with Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. This year, teams from all 34 county schools participated in the regional competitions.

Maryland MESA is designed to prepare students for academic and professional careers in mathematics, engineering, science, and technology. The program’s goals are to increase the number of engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and related professionals at technical and management levels, and to serve as a driving force in encouraging and assisting minorities and females in achieving success in these fields.