Engineering Part I Sixteen Taft students competed in the 14th annual Boston University Engineering Design Challenge. Competing in teams of two, students build a vehicle powered by two AA batteries that will move down a six-foot track as a competitor moves in the opposite direction, deposit a hackey sack in a hole, and return in under 15 seconds. “Points are awarded for different aspects of the race,” explained adviser Jim
Mooney, “but the idea is to get your sack in the hole first but then to delay your return so that you come back as close to 15 seconds as possible without going over.” The teams of Eugene Young and Wilson Yu, Nathan Chuang and Zernyu Chou, and Samantha Glazer and Spencer Barton made the semifinals— the top 16 of the 90 total after four rounds. Spencer and Sammy made the finals and ended up in fifth place.
Frisbee Golf The sport may not be new, but the passion with which students pursued it around campus this spring was. For those who graduated from college—say—before 1980, imagine a course of 18 predetermined landmarks or “holes,” which you must hit in order with a Frisbee, in the least number of throws. Hazards, including the pond, moving vehicles, and errant dogs who thought the Frisbee was for them did little to discourage the students and faculty alike who came out in droves to play. Seeing two, four, or even eight Frisbees cascading over the playing fields as “golfers” moved from hole to hole was a common sight, even on blustery, cold days. The windows of the Headmaster’s Conference Room got pinged hourly as not all participants could control their shots. Passions intensified with the announcement of a tournament—replete with T-shirts—organized by teachers Matt Blanton and Jay Tandon. Upper mids Jamie Wheeler and Renier Van Breen took the title.
Engineering Part II Two varsity and two JV teams traveled to the annual Junior Engineering Technical Society competition at the University of New Haven in March. The varsity-one team placed first in its division, and the JV-one team tied for second in its division. All together, 32 Taft students participated in JETS this year. The competition started with nearly 1,500 teams overall. For teams that pass
the scoring threshold, the second part of the test is forwarded to Washington, where it will be graded as part of the national competition. “The two teams that advanced to the nationals did well,” said adviser Jim Mooney, “with the varsity team placing 12th in the nation in their division of selective admission schools. Their preliminary score was the highest in Connecticut.”
Varsity participants were seniors Supriya Balsekar, Jeff Fielding, Viet Hoang, Nate Kuslis, Chris Kwok, Jason Lee, Chanatip Metheetrairut, and Wan Ling Yih on team one, and seniors Michael Woon, Simon Kim, Tucker Marrison, Lauren Malaspina, and Joseph Mastrocola, and upper middlers Avery Clark, Matt Davis, and Joel Yu on team two. Taft Bulletin Summer 2004
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