KINGSVILLE (February 25, 2022) — Students from local middle and high schools competed in an engineering competition at Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Friday, Feb. 25 as part of the university’s E-Week celebration.
More than 120 students participated in this year’s competition which had the theme “Reimagining the Possible.”
According to the rules of the competition, students were required to create a battery powered car using the material provided to them by the faculty and staff of the university’s Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering.
“The whole idea of this activity is to have the students work in teams,” said Dr. Heidi Taboada, dean of the College of Engineering. “Engineers need to learn to work in teams. We work in teams every single day.”
During the competition, Dr. Taboada went by the tables of teams to further explain the challenge to students.
“The students were first analyzing, trying to see the instructions they had and then coming up with a design,” Taboada said. “Testing and testing and testing again. That’s what engineers do. We follow that simple process for engineering and design.”
Aiden Morin, a junior at Tuloso Midway High School, was one of the students who participated in the competition on Friday.
“It makes us work hard and it tests our skills,” Morin said of the competition. “It makes us see what we have and what we have learned from school and all our engineering classes and how that is turning us into future engineers.”
The high school teams selected as winners include Sinton High School in first place and St. Gertrudis Academy High School in second place.
Junior High winners include George West in first and Odem Jr. High in second place.
Mahogany Garza, an engineering and robotics teacher at Tuloso Midway High School, brought her students to compete for the first time.
“This is a great way for them to build teamwork skills, to work with other individuals, other personalities,” Garza said. “When you’re out there in the real world, you don’t always work with others that are like-minded.”
The students who attended the competition also had the opportunity to see the campus and take a tour of the engineering facilities.
“The whole idea is to get more students interested in engineering and encourage them to come here and join TAMUK engineering with us,” Taboada said.
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