Raytheon held its 13th annual Engineer Games last Thursday, and San Marcos High School came out as the winners with an amazing score of 11 out of 10 because of their exceptionally fine design and fabrication skills.
Raytheon has conducted the contest during “Engineering Week” and is designed to expose high school students to real-world engineering problems. The challenges are all based on math, science and engineering while Raytheon designs them to be both fun and educational.
This year’s theme was “Wild Wild Gas,” and students had to design and create a Stirling engine using everyday common materials such as soda cans and steel wool. A Stirling engine uses renewable energy by taking a difference in temperatures and converting it into usable mechanical energy.
“Students had to take advantage of thermodynamic principles and convert that energy into mechanical energy in the form of the Stirling engine,” said Ted Lumanlan, who was in charge of the event for Raytheon.
San Marcos senior Michael Harris was thrilled that the Royals won the competition with an above-maximum score, but was more satisfied with working together as a team.
“We had a great team effort,” Harris said. “We had to use all of our skills that we learned not only from our science and math classes, but other classes such as leadership and econ, so we could work together effectively as a team to accomplish our goals.”
The winning team from San Marcos consisted of Simone Andreetto, Matthew Arnold, Michael Harris, Mariya Korostil, Allie Torchia and Niko Victoria.
The following schools were in attendance.
» San Marcos — first place
» SBCC/Alta Vista Middle College — second place
» Santa Barbara — third place
» Bishop Diego — fourth place
» Dos Pueblos — fifth place
— Aaron Solis is activities director for San Marcos High School.
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