Four seniors to compete in national science contest

Four Costa Mesa High School seniors will participate in the 2007 Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement USA National Engineering Design Competition, held at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, where they will compete against teams from eight states.

It’s the first time a high school team affiliated with Cal State Fullerton’s program has advanced to a national competition, according to a press release statement issued by the program’s 6-12th grade director, Vonna Hammerschmitt. The Costa Mesa students who will be competing are Juan Dominguez, Dorian Flores, Richard Kyo and Ted Lee.

For the competitions, the team built a trebuchet — a medieval-type throwing device—that demonstrates “distance, accuracy and power,” wrote a technical paper and presented an oral presentation.

After several revisions to their prototype and paper, the team is set to present its final work during the competition being held today through Sunday.

— Yvonne Villarreal