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Kennewick Team Wins Design Competition
OLYMPIA — March 3, 2011 —A team of students from Kennewick has won a statewide design competition and will get a chance to compete for national prizes, State Superintendent Randy Dorn announced today.
The team, from Kamiakin High School, won the 2010 Washington State Real World Design Challenge by designing a next-generation aircraft wing using real professional tools.
Calling themselves Connotations of Flight, the team comprises the following members: Grace Sun Mi Choi, Amanda Michelle White, James Stephen Luey, Collin Charles Bampton, Joseph Mikael Luey, and Sangeetha Thevuthasan.
“What impresses me most is that another Kamiakin team, with different students, won the award last year,” said Randy Dorn, superintendent of public instruction. “That’s a great testament to the program the high school runs, and to the support it gets. It’s also a great benefit to the students in that district.”
Connotations of Flight will compete at the National Challenge in April. Members will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the competition, which will be held in Washington, DC.
The team’s project involved learning how to design airplane wings that are more efficient than existing designs. “The kids enjoyed learning something they’re not learning at school,” said Terrance Casey, an architect in Kennewick who served as the team’s coach.
He said that the team toured the Boeing 737 assembly plant to gain an understanding on how airplane wings were built. “They got to look at a real-world problem up close,” Casey said. “They also got in touch with professionals, such as Boeing engineers and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration.”
The Real World Design Challenge is an annual high school competition run by a public-private partnership with the goal of sustainably increasing the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. The partners are focused on working to transform STEM education in the United States by providing professional science and engineering and learning resources to students and teachers.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is the primary agency charged with overseeing K-12 education in Washington state. Led by State School Superintendent Randy Dorn, OSPI works with the state’s 295 school districts and nine Educational Service Districts to administer basic education programs and implement education reform on behalf of more than one million public school students.
OSPI does not discriminate and provides equal access to its programs and services for all persons without regard to race, color, gender, religion, creed, marital status, national origin, sexual preference/orientation, age, veteran’s status or the presence of any physical, sensory or mental disability.
CONTACT:
Nathan Olson
OSPI Communications Manager
(360) 725-6015
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