JACKSON – A team of sixth-graders from St. Richard Catholic School won top honors in the state eCYBERMISSION competition, which will send them to the nationals in Washington, D.C. this summer.
Team Squeegee Feast won the state and then regional levels of the eCYBERMISSION competition – a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiative offered by the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP). The St. Richard students built “The Squage,” a working robot, to clean tables and floors in their school cafeteria.
“These kids came in after school, on weekends and during the holidays to brainstorm, problem-solve and perfect their robot,” said St. Richard Principal Jennifer David. “We are so proud of all the work they put into it and thankful to have such dedicated team leaders in Ashley and Allan Klein, who volunteer to lead this project every year.”
Students compete on state, regional, and national levels for monetary awards, with national winning teams receiving up to $9,000 in U.S. EE Savings Bonds, valued at maturity. Two teams from Madison St. Joseph School received state recognition for their projects.
All 20 regional winning teams move on to compete as national finalists at the National Judging and Education Event (NJ&EE). NJ&EE is an all-expenses-paid trip set for June 17-22 in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Sponsored by the U.S. Army and administered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), eCYBERMISSION is a web-based STEM competition that is free to students and designed to help build their interest and knowledge in STEM. Students in grades six through nine are challenged with developing a solution to a real-world problem in their local community.