April 16, 2010
Rivet’s JETS teams finish first in their division in state
Two teams from Rivet High School in Vincennes have won state competitions, and are waiting on national rankings.
Members of the eleventh and twelfth grade Junior Engineer-ing Technical Society (JETS) team have finished first in their division and first in the state, according to Beverly Adams, math teacher.
Team members include Amber Fowler, Kelly Purcell, Rachel Sievers, Victoria Brocksmith, Jared Doyle, Gerard Wise, Thomas Jones and Blake Robbins.
“They are waiting on national ranking,” she added.
Rivet’s ninth and tenth grade level team consisting of Ann Stoops, Monica Chiang, Maria Matick, Cassie Osborn, Kayley Brian, Julia Pratt, Jessica Welage, and Ellie Herman also won first in the state in Division 1 in the ninth and tenth grade level. National ranking will come out in April, Adams said.
The teams participated in the Junior Engineering Technical Society’s (JETS) academic competition in February at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Adams explained, “Twenty-five teams from 12 schools were challenged to apply their classroom knowledge to tackle issues important to the critical and global need of providing access to one of nature’s most vital resources on earth: clean water.
“Themed ‘Water, Water Everywhere’ the competition showed students firsthand how engineers in various disciplines, including environmental engineers, civil engineers and me-chanical engineers, are involved in the protection and delivery of the world’s water supply.”
There were two 90-minute parts to the competition. The first part had 80 multiple-choice questions relating to the overall theme of water and helped students make the real-world connection between math and science to engineering.
“This part was used to rank teams for regional recognition. The second portion had open-ended essay questions that expanded students’ analytical thinking and problem-solving skills to address societal, hu-manitarian and global aspects of engineering. The essays are scored by the national committee to determine state and na-tional rankings and awards.”