When An Experience Sparks Action
The lightbulb moment took place on a school bus ride home from Paramus. It was then that four BHS students, having just competed in their very first STEM challenge, knew that they had to host their own STEM competition on the Bernards High School campus.
BHS sophomores Lucian Spiteri, Elizabeth Chen, and Dheirya Tyagi, along with junior Jake D'Alonzo had enjoyed the atmosphere, energy, and team collaboration of the event at Paramus High School. Along with the support of their Tech & Robotics Club Advisor Kevin Koch, they decided to turn their dream into reality. The group planned for nearly twelve weeks, creating student documents, generating rubrics, organizing spaces, securing food, and finding judges. Their hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm were a combination for success!
On February 28th, 2024 eleven competing teams from across New Jersey gathered at Bernards High School. The STEM competition opened with the hosts’ welcome speech followed by an explanation of the events. Throughout the day, the competitors had to hit four benchmarks, three in engineering and one in physics/mathematics. Each team, made up of six students, also had to build a device. Aligned with the Design and Technology curriculum, there was a focus on the engineering design process, being able to show research and plans, as well as constructing something that would ultimately “solve” the STEM design challenge. By midday, the teams were prepared to test their designs, make changes, and then redesign certain elements.
After lunch, all 11 teams were scored by the following judges: Lucian Spiteri (Civil Engineer), Dr. Brian Brotschul (Superintendent), Dr. Olga Edgerton (STEM Supervisor), Mr. Bob Baker (SHSD Board of Education, Engineer), and Mrs. Heather Santoro (SHSD Board of Education Vice President). The team members from each high school confidently gave their presentation to the panel of judges, walking them through their design challenge, sharing their engineering sketches, and demonstrating craftsmanship, problem solving, and teamwork.
While the day concluded with an awards ceremony, where four awards were presented to visiting teams, what did not end was the excitement amongst the BHS students and their peers. “I am extremely proud of our students for hosting their first STEM competition,” said Dr. Edgerton. “Their motivation and collaborative efforts in designing this engineering event led to a remarkable STEM experience that was appreciated by all teams, guests, and judges.” Two things are for sure, BHS will continue to attend more STEM challenge competitions moving forward, and the BHS Tech & Robotics Club students are already brainstorming ideas for future challenges! As Koch shared, “The planning team and our participating STEM team who attended this event are underclassmen, so I am fortunate to have another couple years with them to continue making these STEM events possible.”
Special thanks to student ambassadors Nick Raguso and Brooke Schbabolk. And congratulations for a job well done to the BHS STEM Team who represented BHS well: Clare D'Auria, Julian Lenci, Ria Lewis, Luis Mattos, Isabella Polansky, and Hannah Vinegra.