JFK 7th Graders win PLTW Mass STEM Hub Challenge
Project Lead the Way and STEM are thriving here at JFK.
Twenty-eight seventh grade students in Mr. Dembkowski’s Automation and Robotics course recently submitted fourteen projects on Automation and Programming to the Mass STEM Hub PLTW Online Industry Challenge. On February 13, two of those students, Jayden Rivera and Bryan Leyton, were named the Overall Challenge winners! This is no small feat, as hundreds of students throughout the state submitted projects. Projects were judged by STEM industry professionals from Cargo Labs, L3Harris, Vecna Robotics, Microsoft and MassMEP. Each project received extensive written feedback from the group of judges.
Jayden’s and Bryan’s project centered on designing and building a dragster. This autonomous robot needed to travel twenty feet and go as fast as possible. They used the engineering design process to design, document, and build their robot. They based their design on a traditional dragster with large wheels as the drive wheels and small front wheels.They used gear ratios to increase the speed and reduce the torque of their robot. See the video below.
Along with receiving a ribbon and certificates, each student received a Rocketbook Notebook. Also, through a generous grant by National Grid and Mass STEM Hub, JFK received a check for $500 to help fund a field trip for all 28 students to visit Vecna Robotics in Waltham, MA.
We are so very proud of Jayden and Bryan and all the students who submitted work to Mass STEM Hub. As this is only the second year that JFK has been using the Project Lead the Way curriculum, we couldn’t be more please with the level of student growth and the fantastic job Mr. Dembkowski has done.
For more information on Project Lead the Way and Mass STEM Hub, please visit the following sites…