Diggs And Dr. Mudd Elementary Schools Claim State Championships At 2026 Maryland MESA Day

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. — Charles County students brought home multiple state titles at the 2026 Maryland Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement Day Showcase and Awards Ceremony, held Friday, May 2, at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel. For the students who stood on that stage, the moment was the payoff for a year that demanded far more than anyone could see from the outside — late nights, reworked designs, and a level of perseverance that most adults would find difficult to match.

William A. Diggs Elementary School

Diggs Elementary captured two of the four available first-place state titles at the elementary level, sweeping two challenge categories to lead all Charles County elementary schools at the 2026 Maryland MESA Day statewide showcase. The back-to-back wins were the result of months of after-school preparation, long hours of hands-on building and testing, and the kind of close-knit teamwork that turns classroom ideas into competition-ready projects — earning the school one of the strongest team performances of the day among elementary competitors from across Maryland.

The school’s Storybook Theme Park Challenge team earned first place after designing and presenting a functional model of a theme park ride inspired by a storybook of the team’s choosing. The challenge requires students to apply the engineering design process and basic physics principles while building a ride capable of safely carrying four different-sized passengers through two consecutive test runs — constructed primarily from repurposed and upcycled materials — alongside a presentation and display board.

Team members included John Aaron Bassig, Alianna Grace Moten, Aamir Logan and Danny McFadden Jr. The team was coordinated by Traci Davis and Michael Johnson.

Diggs also claimed first place in the Community Clean-Up Challenge, where students designed and built an automated, environment-powered device capable of collecting trash from land or water using a movable conveyor belt. The challenge requires teams to incorporate an alternative energy source and a programming element into their design, alongside a live demonstration and display board.

Team members included Bryce Muschette, Bryce Thompson and Bryson Wooster. Davis and Johnson also coordinated that project.

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School

Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School won the state title in the Wearable Technology Challenge, which tasked students with designing and building a wearable prototype capable of monitoring an athlete’s body temperature and alerting them when they need to cool down to prevent heat exhaustion. Teams were judged on the functionality of their prototype, a video presentation and a display board documenting their engineering design process.

Team members included Joshua Ferguson, Noel McPherson, Amanda Sanchez and Elizabeth Rodriguez Zelaya. Team coordinators were Brandy Alexander and Maribel Reyes.

La Plata High School

La Plata High School earned third place in the National Engineering Design Challenge, which challenged teams to develop a prototype under the theme of designing for equity locally to affect sustainability globally. Using human-centered design practices, teams were required to identify a community inequity, engineer a coded solution, build a working prototype and present their work through a design proposal, academic poster and technical pitch — with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals serving as the foundation of each project.

Team members included Paul Blachek, Pranesh George, Elijah Merkle and Marcellus White. School coordinators were Rachel Clark and Marisa Capalbo.

Charles County Schools That Advanced to States

The state competition was the culmination of a strong regional performance by Charles County schools across all grade levels. The following teams earned first-place finishes at the regional level, qualifying them for the statewide showcase:

Congratulations to the students, teachers, coordinators and families from William A. Diggs Elementary School, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Elementary School and La Plata High School for representing Charles County at the 2026 Maryland MESA Day Showcase and Awards Ceremony.

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