Three Cheers for TEAMS

Last year was a huge success for the TEAMS group.  The TEAMS group participates in competitions that surround the subjects of engineering, aptitude, mathematics, and science. There was a lot of talent in the students this year.

The team went to the TEAMS Best in Nation competition over the summer. The team placed 8th in the oral competition, placed 6th in the problem solving portion of the competition, and placed an amazing 3rd place in the written section. With all of these scores combined, the team won 4th place out of the whole nation. Talk about skill!

I had the pleasure of speaking with Megha Deveraj, a junior who is a member of TEAMS.

“TEAMS stands for Tests of Engineering Aptitudes of Mathematics and Science, and is basically where we try and engineer tomorrow’s cities and solve problems of the future. TEAMS is really interesting because you get to solve problems that occur in the future, and you get to innovate and create new things that are going to solve problems that people have. You get to help the society and community by doing that, so it’s really fun to participate.” Deveraj said.

When it comes to the competitions, they are typically set up in different sections and categories.

“We had one competition that was oral where we had to give a speech, and that speech was on sewer systems in South Bend, and one competition was on problem solving, where we actually engineered some things.” Deveraj said.

Edward Atkinson, a junior on TEAMS, goes further into the set up of the competitions.

“There’s two parts. There’s a bunch of written essays where they tell you a topic then you have to write about how you would solve the problem, and then there is also a bunch of multiple choice questions where you’re actually solving the problem giving data of different aspects of the problem.”

When the team went to DC,  Deveraj said things got pretty intense in the competitions.

“There was a lot of people down in DC, but it was definitely fun. It was a good time.” Deveraj said. They participated in various activities with the other schools there, such as playing some soccer in their free time, and overall, just meeting people and hanging out.

Anyone can join TEAMS, and usually, the TEAMS divided into two teams: freshman/sophomore and junior/senior. There will be an announcement sometime in the year that can tell students where to meet for this club. Competitions usually take place in the early Spring.

“It’s pretty low commitment. We practiced three or four times and researched these different topics for the test. Compared to other clubs, it isn’t nearly as much commitment.” Atkinson said.

“I’ve just always found math, science, and engineering fun,” Atkinson said. “I just like to do it so what better place to do it than actually competing against other teams to see how well you can do. I’m looking forward to another year, and I’m hoping we can make it to another year at Nationals.”

Olivia Mercucio, now a junior on TEAMS, said she has a great interest in math an science

TEAMS provides a huge knowledge of problem-solving skills, engineering, and basic methods of study that can help with other classes a student might take, to apply them to general terms.

These students obviously worked very hard to achieve these wonderful scores, so if you see any of the following students in the hallway, give them a warm congratulations!