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Whiz Kids: Wirt Middle's CSTEM TEAM

These students are heading to Houston for CSTEM competition next week.

Twenty-six students and thirteen teachers from William Wirt are traveling to Houston Texas next week to compete in the Communication, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (CSTEM) Competition on August 16.

This competition engages students in hands-on, project-based activities that promote creative problem-solving through teamwork. The William Wirt team is participating in challenges in six areas including robotics, green (environmental), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), mural, sculpture and creative writing. 

The robotics team built a VEX robot from scratch and programmed it using RobotBASIC to plug an off-shore oil spill. During the competition, these students will explain the process they used to design their robot, as well as demonstrating how their robot will solve the problem.

The green and GIS teams worked to develop an oil containment strategy, a clean up strategy, and an animal rescue strategy using data from last spring’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Using Google Sketch Up, the green team proposed a solution using recycled materials; their project provides a detailed model of how their strategy would work. The GIS team used ArcGIS mapping and analysis software to illustrate how the approaches will work on a map of the Gulf region.

The theme for this year's mural competition is "strength of community." The mural team used watercolors to created a 10 panels of a 30-panel watercolor mural that depicts folktales in the style of John Biggers, a famous African American artist. Bladensburg High School and Port Towns Elementary also contributed 10 panels each to this mural.

The sculpture team used recycled materials to create the head for a sea turtle sculpture, an effort that was coordinated with a high school team that created the shell and an elementary school team that made the flippers.

The creative writing competition was also about "strength of community."

Students on the writing team created both a digital pop-up book and an actual pop-up book. 

Who are these amazing kids?

Robotics Team
Mohamed Sheikh (Grade 7), Daniel Usman (Grade 7), Dante Holloman (Grade 8), Daniel Spirtovic (Grade 7), Justice Manuel (Grade 8). Julian Walters (Grade 7), and Je'Kiera Sayles (Grade 7)

Green Team
Kayla Alexander (Grade 7), Jordan Armfield (Grade 7), Alma Cruz (Grade 7), Nancy Hernandez (Grade 8), and Rashaud Whitfield (Grade 8)

GIS Team
Taiwo Akinuoye (Grade 7) and Alexander Rauda (Grade 6)

Mural Team
Jose Avila (Grade 8), Brianna Morton (Grade 8), Daniela Perea (Grade 7), Nestor Villanueva (Grade 8), Jade Wilson (Grade 7), and Ahmed Yahya (Grade 6)

Sculpture Team
Kehinde Akinnuoye (Grade 7) and Jose Mejia (Grade 7)

Creative Writing Team
Taiwo Akinuoye (Grade 7), Nwamaka Molokwu (Grade 7), Daniela Osorio (Grade 7), Yazmine Ross (Grade 7), and Yamilet Vivar (Grade 8)
       
Teacher Sponsors     
Stacey A. Montgomery, Lorrie Armfield, Ira Bell, Evangeline Jubay, Kevin Kendrick, Lorie Crawford Knapper, Josephine Mesina, Stacie Morton-Carter, Mitsi Reyes, Marlene Rivera, Mark Spriggs, Theresa Taylor, and Stacy Tomlinson.

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