SCRANTON, Pa. — Hundreds of area high school students from a dozen schools enjoyed a hands-on physics and engineering competition at The University of Scranton on Thursday.
The Hayes Family Science Competition for High School Physics and Engineering Students is intended to encourage more students to pursue careers in physics and engineering.
The competition emphasized applied demonstrations through a series of quizzes and challenges in physics and engineering concepts.
This year's competition theme was "Energy and Motion," and it included a "Hot Wheels" challenge and other experiments. The final team challenge involved capturing Iggy, the university's mascot.
Ed Hayes, a 1961 alumnus who worked for NASA, was a sponsor of the contest.
"I think the world we're going into is going to be extremely science-oriented. AI is the latest industrial revolution. We need people who can deal with that, manage it correctly," said Hayes. "One of the reasons I sponsored Scranton is because they also get the humanities side, the liberal arts theology, philosophy, logic. You need to have that to be a balanced person. If you're just Mr. Science, you're not balanced. You're not going to make the right decisions in life."
Students from Berwick, Carbondale, Crestwood, Delaware Valley, Dunmore, Honesdale, Lackawanna Trail, Mid Valley, North Pocono, Scranton, Wallenpaupack, and West Scranton took part in the competition.
Hayes Family Science Competition 2024
High school students compete individually and in teams.
Individual winners:
1st place Sean Rossi from Crestwood High School
2nd place Dillon Brace from North Pocono High School
3rd place Christian Segiel from North Pocono High School
Team winners in the overall competition were:
First Place - Berwick High School-Team 3
Chris Bowman
Nate Hook
Makayla Brown
Skye Terrones
Emma Czychowski
Teacher - Matthew Shrader
Second Place - Wallenpaupack High School-Team 1
Michael Soskil
Owen Wolff
Manny Caufield
Michael McCloskey
Josh Rupp
Teacher - Ryan Neenan
Third Place – Honesdale High School-Team 1
Kayla Benson
Bryce Dressler
Avery Ohliger
Liam Miller
Evan Funk
Zach Meagher
Teacher - Rebecca Kretschmer