P-Tech students from TST BOCES showcased their engineering expertise today at Engineering Wars 2023, the highly anticipated event hosted annually in our region. This year, the event made a triumphant return in Corning, NY, and was hosted by the GST BOCES STEM Academy on Corning Community College Campus.
Engineering Wars is a unique experience for students to immerse themselves in an innovative challenge that encompasses brainstorming, designing, fabricating, testing, optimizing, competing, and presenting their creations – all in a single day.
The collaborative support of prominent business partners, including Corning Inc, JABIL, The Hilliard Corporation, and Nucor, lent an air of excitement and real-world engagement to the event. Students were presented with real life problems experienced by the business partners and were tasked with building a model boat to transport JABIL's boxes of medical supplies across the ocean. The students' model boats needed to propel across the Corning Community College Pond and drop off the needed medical supplies on the coast. The team that delivered their boxes most efficiently (defined as the most boxes in the quickest time) won.
Students were equipped with a variety of building supplies such as cardboard, glue, wire, balloons, plastic wrap, duct tape, and a power plant-control system, powered by batteries. Each team was also encouraged to bring their own scissors, cutting blades, hot glue guns, and P-TECH logo stickers to personalize their creations.
Amongst this year's competing teams, TST P-Tech had two teams showcasing their talents. Team 1 members included Luna Songput, Caedyn Wright, Tatianna Everts, and Kaylee Darling. Team 2 consisted of Liam Johnson, Tache Arguello, Anton Martorell, and Mekhi Stephenson. TST P-Tech Team 1 emerged from the race with an impressive third-place finish, the best finish in TST P-Tech history!
The rigorous tasks and creative problem-solving required throughout the day made it a truly exhilarating experience for everyone and we couldn't be prouder of our TST P-Tech students! Congratulations to all participants and winners, and here's to an even more impressive Engineering Wars in the years to come!