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Compton’s Eric Martin Returns Home to Teach
Council Kicks Kilroy to the Curb
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Water Replenishment Bill Pros, Cons Presented to Council
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Ofari Hutchinson:
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Compton’s
MESA Team Triumphs Again
Roosevelt Middle School team brings home the gold
Jeffery Washington, Erie French,
Raymundo Villasenor and Alexis Padilla won first place in the National
MESA Engineering Design Competition held two weeks in Maryland.
By
Cheryl Scott
Bulletin
Staff Writer
A
four-person team from Roosevelt Middle School has come home with
the championship trophy from the MESA USA National Engineering Design
Competition held at the University of Maryland June 22 — 24.
Erie French, Raymundo Villasenor, Jeffery Washington and Alexis Padilla
won the chance to compete in the national contest on May 12, when they
scored first in the statewide competition held at Fresno State University.
The team began their successful competitive season at a preliminary
event between Compton schools held in March. They placed second. In the
next level of competition, held at UCI Irvine, they scored first place
in the Southern California region.
Roosevelt now has the first back-to-back win in the state of California.
Last year’s team also won first place.
The team was led by teacher-advisers Oscar Espinoza and Philip Gerlach.
The program is coordinated by Marvin Maldonado.
The MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) program assists students
from underprivileged communities to get into college. The engineering design
competition this year required students to build a trebuchet, which is
a device similar to a catapult. The team was required to research the science
principles of the device, write a technical paper, build an academic display,
give an oral presentation and build a trebuchet to perform in accuracy
and distance tests. The trebuchet had to hit a target with a projectile
and 6.25 meters and at 10 meters with accuracy, and throw a projectile
the farthest distance.
“The difference between a catapult and a trebuchet is in the release
mechanism,” said Espinoza. “A catapult is held back using tension.
When the tension is released, the load is thrown a long distance.
The trebuchet is held back by gravity, with a corresponding weight attached
that, when
released, causes the load to be thrown. The mechanism is a pin device.
When the pin is removed, the device launches its load.”
The team was honored for their achievement at the Compton Unified
School District board meeting on June 26.
“This was the first time the team had been on a plane, the first
time they traveled outside of California and the first time they visited
Washington
D.C.” said Espinosa. “It was definitely very exciting for them.”
Maldonado told The Bulletin that the students did not seem very nervous
before the competition. “In fact, I had a little talk with them because
I was worried they were too laid back, maybe a little too confident.”
Villasenor tells a different story. “There was always a little doubt,” he
said. “We were confident because of our previous wins, but we were
competing against the best students from seven states.”
French said the team was eager and excited. “But we knew we were
going to have to really work if we were going to win. Each time the trebuchet
is used it has to be tweaked to maintain its functionality. So we were
very focused on that.”
Padilla said teamwork played a big part in their success at the competition. “We
had to learn not to procrastinate,” he said. “That was the
hardest thing because it’s so easy to do. As we worked together we
became friends, so we were able to combine everyone’s ideas and work
together.”
“We knew the team has a very good chance to win,” Espinoza
said. “They
were very focused and they had been competing together for two years.
I had very high hopes for them.”
The students worked on their device for an entire school year. “The
MESA program is an after-school extracurricular activity,” said Espinoza. “We
also have sessions on Saturdays. It takes a committed team to be able to
compete at all. It takes even more commitment to win at all four levels.
We are very proud of these students.”
Roosevelt has the largest MESA program in the Compton Unified School
District. “We have more than 100 students participating,” said
Espinoza. “I credit the administration for being very supportive
of the program. The kids were really responsive to it from the start, so
the school committed to continuing to support the program. Whenever we
need anything, our principal, Ms. Rubin E. White, does whatever she can
to get it for us.”
MESA is open to any student with at least a C average. “It’s
not just for the high-achievers and the top students,” he said. “Its
goal is to encourage math and science scholarship and help prepare students
for college. It’s not necessary for students to have 3.0 grade averages
to get into the program.”
“The MESA program gives kids an incentive to go to college,” said
Maldonado. “We hope they will choose to go into math or science,
but we are very happy if it just spurs them on to go to college and
study in any field.”
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