A mousetrap car designed by Westglades Middle School’s SECME (South East Consortium for Math and Engineering) Team took first place middle school honors in the national SECME Engineering Design Competition held in late June at the University of Alabama. Westglades Middle School is located in Parkland.  This is the second year that a team from Westglades has earned top honors at the annual competition.

After netting first place at the regional Broward SECME Olympiad, the three-member team, consisting of then eighth- graders James McLaughlin, Zach Xu and Drew Fltcher, earned the right to represent Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) at the national final Engineering Design Competition, a highpoint at the annual SECME Summer Institute. The Westglades Middle team received first place at the national competition based on a combination of their car’s performance, engineering drawings, technical reports and group interviews.

Teams were required to design and build a racecar that was small, lightweight and powered solely by a standard wooden mousetrap. Students were judged on their car’s performance as well as mastery of scientific knowledge, technical engineering drawings and collaboration of ideas through teamwork.

The students committed themselves to hours of preparation, perfecting their mousetrap car design, technical drawing, interview skills and technical report.  They solicited the help of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Coral Glades high school principals who allowed practice time on their schools’ gym floors.  The team also met in parents’ homes and even the Parkland library and WalMart provided support and encouragement to the students.

SECME, Inc. is an alliance of schools, universities, science- and technology-based businesses and industries, and public and private agencies in 17 states, the District of Columbia and Grand Bahama that share a goal to renew and strengthen the professional capacity of K-12 educators, motivate and mentor students, and empower parents so that all students can learn and achieve at higher levels. SECME also supports STEM, a nation-wide initiative that focuses on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.

Additional information about SECME or STEM may be found at (www.browardscience.com).