West Middle Students Travel to Washington to Compete in eCyberMission National Finals

     

Yasmine, Joleen, Arman, and Sebastian

Four West Middle School 7^th graders spent four days in in June in Washington, DC as National Finalists in the E-Cybermission Competition sponsored by the US Army Educational Outreach Program.  This program is a web-based competition for 6-9 grade students in which students propose a solution to a real life problem in their area.  The Jays are a team composed of Yasmine Gulbas, Joleen Pern, Arman Vasauala, and Sebastian Zhu  and for their challenge, they developed a device for warming and transporting turtles that have become grounded on Cape Cod. 

The Jays inspect their device for warming stranded sea turtles.

As a result of their success, each member of the team has won a $1000.00 savings bond for winning at the state level and a $2000.00 savings bond for winning at the regional level.   The team came in to school during the April school vacation to present their project to judges via an online presentation, an effort that earned them the top place in the northeast region and a place in the finals. On June 15, 2015, the Jays and their teacher mentor WMS 7th grade science teacher Kelly McDonald travelled to Washington as one of five 7^th grade teams from across the country to compete in the national finals June 15-19 (all expenses paid).  While the first place prize went to another team, the students had memorable time participating in a number of events and activities associated with the program including visits with Senators Warren and Markey.

While the Jays made it to the national finals, the were not the only Andover team that experienced some success in the E-Cybermission Competition. 2nd Place  Grip Tech – Foster Rose, Nina McKone, Bryce Herald, Ashley Hardock earned a second place finish as their team, Grip Tech, worked on creating more traction for running shoes for running in the winter.  Grip Tech team members included Foster Rose, Nina McKone, Bryce Herald, Ashley Hardock.  The WMS team called BA-Cubed composed of Akshara Iyer, Andrea Pantazi, Robert Markus, and Abbott Lowell earned an Honorable Mention for their work on harnessing rainwater from storms to generate electricity.

You can read the story about this team in the Andover Townsman here

A story about the Jays also appeared in the Boston Globe here