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McCabe Junior High
team, from left, Angel Hernandez, Karina Torres, Alexis Pena and
Luis Escobar pose with the second place trophy they won in a
national engineering design competition held at the University
of Colorado in Denver. |
A team from McCabe Junior
High School in Mendota, served by California State University, Fresno’s
MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) program, placed
second in the National Engineering Design Competition.
It was the second straight year that McCabe represented California in
the national MESA competition and placed among the top three junior high
and middle school teams. The competition was June 25-28 in Denver, Colo.
McCabe teammates Luis Escobar, Angel Hernandez, Alexis Pena and Karina
Torres competed against peer teams from across the country.
The McCabe team won the California title in competition at Fresno State
in May against teams from schools in Inglewood, Compton and Williams.
In Denver, participants were required to design and build a trebuchet, a
siege engine similar to a catapult, which was judged for distance and
accuracy. Students also were evaluated on their knowledge of math and
physics principles behind their design.
MESA provides academic preparation in math and science to educationally
disadvantaged students to encourage them to attend college and study in
math-based fields leading to careers in engineering, science and
mathematics.
California’s MESA program serves 17,600 students at precollege,
community college and university levels. Over 80 percent of MESA high
school graduates go directly to college, compared to 47 percent of all
California graduates.
The national competition received support from Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, United Launch Alliance, IBM, the U.S. Department of the
Interior, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and the University of
Colorado.
For more information, please contact Fresno State MESA director Louie
Lopez, louie_lopez@csufresno.edu
or 559.278.2976.
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