Engineering students achieved success at the Test of Engineering Aptitude Math and Science (TEAMS) competition, ranking high in the state and in the nation. The four varsity teams and two junior varsity teams competed in February at UT Dallas with 12 other varsity teams and five JV teams at that location; and on April 7, the scores of the competition were released.

“I’m really proud of our team,” freshman Elizabeth Cazes said. “It definitely challenged us more than we’re used to, and it was enjoyable as we worked it [the competition] out together.”

The JV Team B ranked second in Texas and ninth in the nation, JV Team A ranked seventh in Texas and 29th in the nation, Varsity Team A ranked fourth in Texas and 16th in the nation, Varsity Team B ranked 27th in Texas and 72nd in the nation, Varsity Team C ranked 10th in Texas and 31st in the nation, and Varsity Team D ranked second in Texas and 10th in the nation.

TEAMS consisted of three parts: an essay portion, a multiple choice portion, and a design and build portion. Each part divided tasks among the teams of eight; in the multiple choice section there were 80 questions and each member receives a section of 10 questions; in the design and build portion, members work together in building; and in the essay portion half of the team conducts the research and the other half writes the essay, then at the end the team collectively edits the essay.

“I’m really happy we got a perfect score,” Cazes said. “We all collectively did the essay. It was a team effort.”

The two JV teams received a perfect score on the essay portion placing them in first place in the nation for this portion of the test.

The essay portion focused on renewable resources; teams had to write how Texas can use a renewable resource for the next five years. The multiple choice portion focused on various broad topics. For example, it questioned how the mechanics of a bug carrying water can be applied to engineering. The design and build portion focused on building an apparatus with materials such as rubber bands and sticks and focusing on cost.

“[The design and build portion] had to be applied to the real world,” senior Nathalie Debelle said. “The lower the cost, the more points we got.”

The members of each team are as follows:

JV Team A: freshmen Katrina Fierro, Atithi Shrestha, Mikaele Haile, Cynthia Han, Natalie Ponce, Aidan Johnson, Elizabeth Cazes, and Hailey Ward.

JV Team B: sophomores Connor Simpson, Alec McAndrew, Emma Ramirez, Kevin Qi, Adithya Sreenivasan, Cassie Trumble, Joshua Suprapto, and freshman Saumya Jain.

Varsity Team A: juniors Ethan Golla, Omer Coban, Nikolas Hamon, Zachary Talley, Soham Patel, and seniors Kenyon Phillips, Deshantar Parajuli, and Nathan Nguyen.

Varsity Team B: juniors Sabika Bharmal, Matthew Dixon, Sana Momin, Krishna Patel, Sarah Delahunt, Sanne Bloemsma, Nitin Jain, and Arka Majumdar.

Varsity Team C: seniors Rhea Nelson, Tahiya Khan, Jason Chu, Isaac Sorensen,Jungwoo Joo, Richard Dang, and juniors Franklin Mao, and Anthara Krishnan.

Varsity Team D: seniors Matthew Kurten, Angela McMillian, Lukas Keen, Nathalie Debelle, Matthew Golla, Arul Saraf, Daniel Olvera, and Dylan McCoy.