MS team wins honorable mention in nat`l science competition

Eighth grade students Katie Goldston, Kyle Hoffman, and Mitchell Joseph were recognized with an Honorable Mention Award in the recent Exploravision Awards program. This is the largest Science competition in the nation, with more than 200,000 participants involved since 1992. Sponsored jointly by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Toshiba Corporation, there were hundreds of teams involved in this 2006-2007 school year. Of those hundreds of teams, the Hawken team proved themselves by scoring in the top 10 percent of the nation! Exploravision.org says, \"Now in its 15th year, ExploraVision encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science. All inventions and innovations result from creative thinking and problem solving.\" This is an event where teams work together to improve upon a current technology to solve a future problem. Katie, Kyle, and Mitchell developed a buoy for the Gulf of Mexico that would use the cool air near the surface to slightly cool the water, while using warmth from the water to slightly warm the air. By doing this, the differential between the water and air surfaces would grow closer. This process would prevent hurricane force winds from picking up the destructive speeds that have pummeled the southern coast of the United States. Working to develop and improve upon their ideas over several months, the team earned the recognition and prizes bestowed upon them. The students were mentored in their endeavor by Dr. Iwan D. Alexander, Ph.D., Professor at the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and the Director of National Center Space Exploration and Research. Our Hawken team is very grateful to Dr. Alexander for his time and assistance with this project. Dr. Alexander has also earned a certificate from the NSTA/Toshiba Exploravision Awards for his work on this project.