BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Tomorrow's leading engineers may very well be today's high school students in Boca Raton, as the Olympic Heights High School Engineer Academy won first place and the prize for best design at the annual Florida Model Water Tower competition.
The event was held in Boca.
According to the school district:
The students designed and built a working model of a water tower using recyclable materials. They were judged based on Hydraulic Efficiency, Structural Stability, and Design features. Olympic Heights future engineers walked away with the overall 1st place and the prize for the Best Design. The 1st place team ‘Hydraulic Beta’ was represented by Emily Lyn, Andrew Dunetz, Justin Kanarick and David Kowal and the Best Design team ‘Design Alpha’ was represented by Joseph Ferraino, Stephen Horn and Blake Berkheimer.
“This was a golden opportunity for our students to put their theoretical knowledge to practical use and experience the real world challenges that engineers face every day of their careers. An overall of 6 teams represented the school and all the teams make us proud with their creative designs. This was definitely an experience to remember – this group of students will never take running water for granted!!” said Ms. Nimmi, teacher of Principles of Engineering at the Olympic Heights Engineering Academy. Olympic Heights offers 4 years of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) engineering courses to help students prepare for exploding opportunities in the field of Engineering and Technology.
The event was co-sponsored by the City of Boca Raton and AWWA (American Water Works Association). AWWA is an international, nonprofit, scientific, and educational association dedicated to improving drinking water for people everywhere. From its modest beginnings more than 125 years ago, AWWA has expanded to become the largest organization of water supply professionals in the world. This was the 3rd year that the City of Boca was hosting this competition, and it attracted over 150 students from Broward and Palm Beach counties with a total of 39 functioning water towers that competed for the top prizes.
