Bryan Reyes Vargas and his three teammates will head to Seattle in May thanks to their project they dubbed The Stoplight, a small box that lights up to tell parents the optimal time for kids to go outside and play.
The team, Rice and Beans and More Beans, took first place among middle-schoolers during the 2018 MESA Day Regional Competition, beating two other groups of finalists. Now, they’ll face opponents from across the state next month. They were ecstatic about the scholastic victory.
“We wanted to win but we didn’t really expect to,” Bryan said with a laugh. “We had some tough competition.”
The MESA event started early Saturday morning at Washington State University Vancouver. Students were challenged to find a client in the community with a problem, and then use current technology and engineering to provide a solution.
Teams were judged on device function and process, client consideration and impact, innovation and overall knowledge of their project.
A total of 152 students, which made up 42 teams, from Clark County schools competed in the event.
MESA stands for Math, Engineering and Science Achievement. The acronym was created before the term STEM education came into popular use, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
Unlike STEM, which encourages an educational focus on those subjects for every student, the MESA program targets populations underrepresented in science fields, especially African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians and women.
The teachers who lead the students try to instill the idea that the youngsters are going to be entering a competitive workforce where skills such as coding and electronics won’t just be highly valued, but required.
“The large corporations that serve as the drivers of the industry are largely made up of white males,” said James Dorsey, Washington MESA Executive Director, who attended Saturday’s event. “That workforce should be open to all these kids, whose diversity, in turn, will stimulate the economy.”
Rice and Beans and More Beans team member Leilani Gonzalez said she’s most interested in finding a career she’s passionate about.
“My mom always said choose something you love to do, and then you’ll never work a day in your life,” Leilani said.
Bryan said the first time he got his hands on an iPhone, it sparked an interest in technology. The phone made him want to learn programming, he said.
“I want to make change in the world, like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg,” Bryan said.
The winning middle school team members were Leilani Gonzalez, Bryan Reyes Vargas, Muniroth Ly and Miguel Moreno-Ramirez.
Here’s how their project worked:
The idea came from Bryan’s mom, they said on stage, prompting giggles from fellow students.
He said he often pesters her to go outside. The Stoplight, with its four light colors, helps her assess weather conditions.
Blue means it’s probably too cold to go outside. If it’s green, you’re good to go. Bring out the sunscreen for yellow. Stay inside next to an air-conditioner if it’s showing red.
Bryan told the crowd that such a device, a compact black rectangle that can hang in plain view, is better than a smartphone because it’s less of a distraction.
The students wired the device and coded it to light up to specific colors within certain temperature ranges. They said the most difficult part was coding the sensor correctly.
Future improvements could include bigger and brighter lights, weatherproofing and a remote control. They also hope to attach a humidity sensor to the device.
Three judges thought The Stoplight topped the other entries. Chris Hight, one of the judges, said he was most impressed that the winning team was able to complete a functioning product in the time given to them. The teams started in January, but sometimes met once a week for as little as an hour.
“They had something that could potentially be put in front of investors,” Hight said.
“I was also impressed by their decisions to make what they did, and that goes for all teams. They wanted to help their community,” he said.
Hight was also encouraged that the students are learning to code at a young age. He works for Interject Data Systems, a data company whose employees teach classrooms of Clark County youngsters to code.
“We purposefully teach them at a young age, because coding helps develop logic and reasoning skills,” Hight said.
Other competing projects included a portable propane sensor meant to prevent kitchen explosions; the Fat-O-Meter, a dog harness that acts as a step-counter for owners who think their four-legged companions may be overweight; and a child car seat device that lets drivers know if their infant or toddler becomes unbuckled, either with a light or a sound through the vehicle’s Bluetooth.
