SIDNEY — Students from Lehman Catholic High School participated recently in the 37th annual Regional TSA/TEAMS competition held at Ohio Northern University. In the small school division (schools with a senior class less than 100), Lehman’s Varsity Team placed 13th out of 21 teams, and the JV Team placed 4th out of 8 teams.
Sponsored by TSA (Technology Student Association), TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) is a problem-solving competition giving students in grades 9-12 the opportunity to discover and experience how scientists and engineers make a difference in the world. Students work together in teams of four to eight to practically apply math and science to answer engineering questions about everyday real world challenges. The annual TEAMS competition theme is based on the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges. This year’s theme was “Engineering the Tools of Innovation.”
Many schools at the competition field both varsity and junior varsity teams. Schools may register as many teams as they wish. Varsity teams can be any grade level. Junior Varsity teams are limited to students in grades 9-11. Schools are divided into small and large school divisions based on enrollment in the senior class.
For part one of the competition, students had 90 minutes to complete 80 multiple choice questions on eight topics ranging from Energy Efficiency to Space.
The second part of the competition was comprised of two components – essays and hands-on designs. Some team members worked on essay questions and others designed and built a structure which was judged on team decision-making criteria.
Scores from the competition will be sent to the state and national level, and how teams from the region compared to others will be reported at a later date.
Lehman Varsity Team members were Sara Fuller, Cassidy Hemm, Michael Largent, Nick Neumeier, Ryan Goettemoeller, Abby Jones, Hailey Wick, and Maddy McFarland. The JV Team members included Tyler Lachey, Owen Smith, Michael Wesner, Griffin West, Madison Heffelfinger, Nicholas Largent, Conor O’Leary, and Mitchell Sollmann. The Lehman TEAMS coach is Dennis Pax of Emerson Climate Technologies, and Lehman’s entry into the competition was coordinated by Science Department Chair Sister Ginny Scherer.
