On Saturday April 10, 2010, over 275 students from Palm Beach County Secondary schools participated in the Secondary SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics, Enrichment) Olympiad hosted by Santaluces High School. Students participated in a variety of competitions which included banners, brain bowl, bridges, essays, mousetrap cars, posters, and water rockets.
The 2010 overall district champions for both High School and Middle School are:
High School:
• 1st Place Overall – Suncoast High School
• 2nd Place Overall – Seminole Ridge Community High School
• 3rd Place Overall – Boca Raton High School
• Honorable Mention Overall – Royal Palm Beach High School
Middle School:
• 1st Place Overall – Palm Springs Community Middle School
• 2nd Place Overall – Omni Middle School
• 3rd Place Overall – Don Estridge High Tech Middle School
• Honorable Mention Overall – Village Academy
The winning entry in the essay competition advances to the SECME National Student Competition which will be held on June 26, 2010 at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. Winners of the mousetrap car competitions will be recognized and will also compete at the national competition.
The winners of essay and mousetrap car competitions are:
High School:
• Essay— Suncoast – Celine Rodriguez
• Mousetrap car— Suncoast – Exponential Engineers
Middle School:
• Essay— Omni Middle – Raphaella De Paula
• Mousetrap car— Palm Springs – X-Rays
SECME is a national organization committed to increasing the pool of students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, thus creating a diverse and globally competitive workforce.
Olympiad supporters included: Florida Atlantic University, Hazen & Sawyer, FPL, Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne, CH2M Hill, and Suncoast Marine.
SECME OLYMPIAD WINNERS
PALM BEACH COUNTY
HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Santaluces High School
BANNER: Students create banners based on the Olympiad's theme. Banners must contain the school mascot and SECME logo.
• Honorable Mention: Boca Raton
• Third Place: Santaluces
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Suncoast
BRAIN BOWL: Students compete against the clock and each other in a quiz show style contest filled with science and math questions.
• Honorable Mention: Forest Hill
• Third Place: Suncoast
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Royal Palm Beach
BRIDGE: Students build balsa wood bridges to pre-determined specifications. Bridges are then tested at the Olympiad. The winner is determined by the most efficient bridge within the specifications.
• Honorable Mention: Lake Worth – Trojan Men
• Third Place: John I Leonard - Blitzkrieg
• Second Place: Suncoast – This is what we do
• First Place: Suncoast – Exponential Engineers
MOUSETRAP CAR: Students build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap. All teams must have a mousetrap car (constructed and running), design drawing blueprint of mousetrap car, technical report on mousetrap car construction and operations. A combination of the scores from the race, the report, and the drawing is used to determine the winner.
• Honorable Mention: Boca Raton – Blue and Gold
• Third Place: Seminole Ridge - Silver
• Second Place: Boca Raton – Roaring Cats
• First Place: Suncoast – Exponential Engineers
POSTER: Students create posters based on the Olympiad's theme.
• Honorable Mention: West Boca Raton
• Third Place: Forest Hill
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Suncoast
WATER ROCKET: Students build a model rocket around a standard 2 liter soda bottle. All teams must have: rocket (constructed and launch-ready); design drawing blueprint of rocket; technical report on rocket; and mission patch design. At the Olympiad, rockets will be "fueled" with 355 milliliters of water and 60 PSI of air pressure. The rocket with the greatest combined "hang time" airborne and score will be declared the winner.
• Honorable Mention: Lake Worth – Greasy Buffoons
• Third Place: Royal Palm Beach - Fusion
• Second Place: Suncoast – Exponential Engineers
• First Place: Boca Raton – Apollo III
ESSAY: Students write essays at their schools based on the Olympiad's theme. Each school must submit one (1) essay.
• Honorable Mention: A.W. Dreyfoos – Elizabeth Kennedy
• Third Place: Boca Raton – Juliusz Kruszelnicki
• Second Place: Royal Palm Beach – Alexandre DeCastro
• First Place: Suncoast – Celine Rodriguez
OVERALL HIGH PALM BEACH CHAMPION:
• Honorable Mention: Royal Palm Beach High
• Third Place: Boca Raton High
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge High
• First Place: Suncoast High
