Local team wins national game competition
Each team member received a Kennedy Space Center weekend VIP tour package with air travel, courtesy of Southwest Airlines, and a trophy. The team also took home a Ward's Natural Science microscope. There were 110 teams nationwide that attended.
The competition, created and run by Sally Ride Science, is intended to motivate middle school-age students, especially girls, to pursue their interests in science and engineering education and careers.
Sally Ride Science was founded by the astronaut for whom it is named. It supports the large numbers of girls who are, or might become, interested in science, mathematics and technology.
Northrop Grumman Foundation is the co-sponsor, and Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, serves as a principal sponsor.
The Neon Warriors — composed of middle school students Alexis Jennings, Gloria Maciorowski, Melissa Rey and Jack Terschluse, and coached by Barbara Rey— was awarded the grand prize for "Splash Dash."
Alexis, Gloria and Melissa are sixth-graders at Incarnate Word Elementary School, while Jack is a sixth grader at Chaminade.
Their "Splash Dash" game is a fitness-focused outdoor tag game played within an electronic sensor field formed by a custom-built transmitter and receiver.
Players wear vests made of indicator paper in a grid format. Each player uses a special throwing mechanism to toss light-weight sponge balls, which are moistened with a baking soda and water mixture, at their opponents.
When the vests are touched by the wet balls, the indicator paper reacts and permanently changes color. The players must take care to stay within the game field boundary as the electronic sensor emits a beep if the laser beams are crossed. Players are assessed a five-point penalty each time they step out of bounds. The person who has the most unmarked squares on the vest's grid combined with the least penalty points at the end of the game wins.
Rey said the kids previously had been part of a TOYchallenge Team with a game called ""Twisted"" and, last year, took their game to North Carolina and came away with the award for team spirit.
For TOYchallenge's preliminary round, teams comprised of at least 50 percent girls submitted written descriptions and visual presentations of their original toy or game concepts based on themed categories including Games for the Family, Get Out and Play, and Toys that Teach.
Of several hundred teams, 110 finalists were invited to advance to the Nationals. The submissions were judged on originality, creativity, engineering elegance, feasibility, design process description, team participation and clarity of communication. All teams received certificates of participation.
While open to all fifth- through eighth-graders in the nation, TOYchallenge focuses on catching girls' attention in these subjects in order to keep them in the engineering "pipeline."