San Marcos High School students have won the Raytheon Engineer Games competition when local sophomores and juniors visited Raytheon on Feb. 24 as part of Raytheon’s Engineers Week.

Students had the opportunity to meet working engineers and learn about Raytheon. As a part of the visit, students had the opportunity to test their math and science skills during Raytheon’s Engineer Games competition in a green propulsion challenge.

Without any prior knowledge of the game or opportunity to study, students from the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy and San Marcos, Bishop Garcia Diego and Santa Barbara high schools tested their math and science skills and were challenged to construct an “ion lifter” — a green propulsion device that uses 30,000 V to create charged particles streaming through the air to lift it.

Students only had access to raw materials and their knowledge of physics. The concept, while at its most basic level, is utilized in a number of common applications, including nanotechnology, spectrometry and heat transfer. Each team was paired with a Raytheon engineer and given two hours to construct and test their devices. Teams were then pitted against one another to determine which device was ultimately the most successful.

At the end of the event, the San Marcos team was declared the winner for their project. The San Marcos team included Whittaker Hamill, Sofia Lochner, Jay Miley, Alex Rubio and Caroline Vance.

“The students had a unique opportunity to meet professional engineers and participate in a fun, engaging design competition,” teacher Rob Goettler said. “We are thankful to Raytheon for hosting this event, which gave our students a broader perspective on careers in engineering.”

— Aaron Solis is the activities director for San Marcos High School.