Students Win at ‘ExploraVision’; Now on to National Finals

 Craig Atkinson, William Burch, Timothy Olsen and Adam Sachsel composed one of the 24 teams recognized out of more than 4,527 teams as winners at the regional level. The students were recognized for their invention, titled T.H.E. (temporary housing emergency) shelter. Team coach is Connie Mouton, a gifted education resource teacher for Charles Count Public Schools, and Malcolm parent Loretta Sachsel is the team’s mentor.

 Student teams pick an existing product or technology, such as temporary housing, to research. They are judged on how they research and examine problems and create solutions their product could be used for in the future.

 The competition is judged in two phases, regionals and nationals. In the regional phase, 24 teams are chosen as winners to compete at the national level. Eight national winners are chosen in the second phase, in which teams are required to build a web page explaining their product and its functions.

 Regional team winners receive a personal DVD player and their school is awarded a Toshiba laptop and software. National first-place winners receive a $10,000 savings bond for each team member and national second-place winners receive a $5,000 savings bond for each team member.

 Toshiba will formally present the awards to the team at an April 10 ceremony at the school. National winners will be announced May 1 and will be recognized during an awards celebration weekend held in Washington, D.C., in June.

 Since 1992, more than 220,000 students from across the United States and Canada have competed in the ExploraVision competition. The competition was designed for students in kindergarten through grade twelve and encourages children to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations, using creative thinking and problem solving skills with the tools of science.