BE engineering team takes win in first-ever competition

When the Bishop England High engineering club won its first competition at The Citadel on Saturday, Feb. 8, it marked a huge accomplishment for the team that just formed at the beginning of the school year.

Sophomore Ayden Haas led the initiative to start an engineering-oriented club by petitioning the school and finding a teacher to sponsor it, according to his dad, Jeff Haas, who serves as the club’s parent volunteer coordinator.

As a mechanical engineer and the owner of an engineering research and development company, the elder Haas acted as a mentor for the club to help guide them along the way.

Math teacher Ms. Kelsey Leonard also stepped up to sponsor the club and provide support for the students. Haas praised her efforts: “She was a very strong advocate for the club and just generally a big proponent for beyond-the-classroom engineering lessons.”

The club, which is open to all grades, had 21 students in its inaugural year. They met a few times a month, with more frequent meetings in preparation for the competition at The Citadel, where they faced about 10 schools in their division.

The main event they competed in is the trebuchet contest, focusing on the accuracy competition. The team had to build the big green machine known as a trebuchet over a period of a few months. They were scored based on how accurately they could hit a target comparable to a 3D bullseye, with more points awarded for more accurate shots. Since the high school teams launched from the furthest distance — the choices were 60, 95 and 130 feet — they could get the most points.

Haas explained that they were only able to take a half a dozen practice shots the day before the main event to test out their trebuchet, so they were fortunate to not have too many problems. “We did have a catastrophic failure to the sling which holds the lacrosse ball on the first shot,” he said. “We were fortunate that the team next us (the US Naval Sea Cadet Corps from St. Augustine, Florida) helped us with a replacement part to enable us to compete. That was very much in keeping with the spirit of the event and we were blessed to benefit from their generosity.”

A number of kids also participated in the water bottle rocket competition, and Club President Ayden Haas placed third with Zander Mullen just behind him. Jeff Haas said Mullen was the first club member to build a successful and great-performing water bottle rocket during practices. “Too bad he lost it on the roof of the gym,” he joked.

As with any new endeavor, the students faced challenges. “Given the newness, they couldn’t understand very well some of the engineering and design lessons I was trying to impart on them,” Haas said. “Now that they have seen it all in action, they will be able to connect the science behind the design to the end result.”

With experience and an exciting win behind them, the BE engineering club will be back next school year to launch new experiments and reach great goals.

Daniel Island Publishing

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