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Launch pad
March 30, 2007
The ninth annual MESA Day brought 340 elementary, middle and high school students from 14 South End schools to campus last Tuesday to compete in math, science and engineering challenges.
The daylong event included a variety of contests, such as the egg drop, multi-purpose vehicle and bridge-design competitions, which were judged by volunteers from the PLU faculty. Competitions were held across lower campus, in Olson Gym, Rieke, the Morken Center and on Foss Field.
Foss Field hosted the multi-task trebuchet challenge. The catapult-like device hurls projectiles through a counterweight system, and it was first used in medieval times to launch missiles at an enemy. On MESA Day, students projected cloth balls and tested the accuracy and power of their contraptions.
MESA, short for math, engineering and science achievement, is a national organization that provides underrepresented students in grades four through 12 with opportunities in these three subjects. Typically, students from the African American, Native American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and female populations are underrepresented in math, science and engineering fields, and the program works to help these students reach their full potential and be active contributors in the fields.
Students from six south-Puget Sound school districts participate in the program through after-school activities, classroom activities and interactions with role models, which include PLU students who visit MESA classrooms regularly and interact with students in the program.
Washington state’s MESA program includes four other offices across the state in Spokane, Yakima Valley/Tri-Cities, Vancouver and Seattle. A local university sponsors each program. The national organization, MESA USA, spans eight states and includes Oregon, California, New Mexico, Maryland, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
To learn more about Washington’s MESA program, visit www.washingtonmesa.org.
Foss Field hosted the multi-task trebuchet challenge. The catapult-like device hurls projectiles through a counterweight system, and it was first used in medieval times to launch missiles at an enemy. On MESA Day, students projected cloth balls and tested the accuracy and power of their contraptions.
MESA, short for math, engineering and science achievement, is a national organization that provides underrepresented students in grades four through 12 with opportunities in these three subjects. Typically, students from the African American, Native American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and female populations are underrepresented in math, science and engineering fields, and the program works to help these students reach their full potential and be active contributors in the fields.
Students from six south-Puget Sound school districts participate in the program through after-school activities, classroom activities and interactions with role models, which include PLU students who visit MESA classrooms regularly and interact with students in the program.
Washington state’s MESA program includes four other offices across the state in Spokane, Yakima Valley/Tri-Cities, Vancouver and Seattle. A local university sponsors each program. The national organization, MESA USA, spans eight states and includes Oregon, California, New Mexico, Maryland, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
To learn more about Washington’s MESA program, visit www.washingtonmesa.org.