Kansas BEST begins with kickoff day Saturday, Sept. 11
Media note: The best time to cover this event photographically is between 11:10 a.m.-noon.
Kansas BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) is an effort to inspire and motivate high school students toward careers in engineering, science and technology. The WSU College of Engineering Dean's Circle, an advisory board, coordinates the competition.
Kansas BEST will culminate in a sports-like technology contest in a daylong competition Saturday, Oct. 23, in WSU's Charles Koch Arena. This year's game is titled "Total Recall."
The game is limited to a six-week period to simulate a product time-to-market constraint. On Saturday each team will receive identical kits of materials and component parts.
Using only the materials in BEST-provided kits such as plywood, electric motors and a radio-control transmitter and receiver, students will have six weeks to design, develop and test a robot that can outperform their competitors. Volunteer professional engineers, technicians and teachers will guide students through the engineering process, but the students will design and build the robots.
The 2010 game will include an additional competition for the Kansas BEST Award to the team that best embodies the concept of Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology.
The 27 teams competing this year are Ambassadors for Christ Academy, Andale High School, Andover Central High School, Atchison High School, Baldwin High School, Blue Valley CAPS Program, Buhler High School, Campus High School, Circle High School, Concordia High School, El Dorado High School, Goddard High School, Hutchinson Tech Center, Kansas City Christian, Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, Madison High School, Northeast Magnet High School, Olathe South High School, Panther Creek Academy, Pike Valley High School, Rose Hill High School, Salina South High School, Valley Center High School, Washburn Rural High School, Wichita Southeast High School, Wichita West High School and Wichita HomeSchool.
Winners of Kansas BEST 2010 will travel to Fort Smith, Ark., to compete in the Frontier Trails Regional Competition at the University of Arkansas Dec. 10-11.
For more information, visit the Kansas BEST website http://www.kansasbest.org.
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Contact: Kansas BEST co-directors Larry Frutiger, (316) 733-1572; Bob Umsheid, (316) 634-1492; or Joe Kleinsasser, WSU director of news and media relations, (316) 978-3013, or e-mail joe.kleinsasser@wichita.edu.