Kansas BEST begins with kickoff day Saturday, Sept. 20
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, Nov. 1, in Wichita State's Charles Koch Arena. This year's game is titled "Just Plane Crazy."
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 2008 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 30 teams competing this year are Ambassadors for Christ Academy, Andale High School, Andover Central High School, Baldwin High School, Blue Valley High School, Buhler High School, Campus High School, Circle High School, Collegiate Upper School, Concordia High School, Decatur/Oberlin High School, Goddard High School, Hutchinson Tech Center, Independence High School, Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, Lawrence High School, Madison High School, Maize High School, Mulvane High School, Northeast Magnet High School, Panther Creek Academy, Rose Hill High School, Sunrise Christian Academy, The Independent School, Topeka High School, Washburn Rural, Valley Center High School, Wichita Southeast High School, Wichita West High School and Wichita HomeSchool.
Winners of Kansas BEST 2008 will travel to Fort Smith, Ark., to compete in the Frontier Trails Regional Competition at the University of Arkansas Dec. 5-6.
For more information, visit the Kansas BEST Web site http://www.kansasbest.org.
Kansas BEST is made possible with the support of the following sponsors: Cessna Aircraft Co., Hawker Beechcraft Corp., LSI Corp., The Boeing Co., Spirit AeroSystems, Bombardier Learjet, Great Plains Ventures Inc., igus Inc., Solid Works, AiAA-Wichita Section, The Hangar, Susan Burdick Graphic Design and Illustration, Towne East Square, WSU College of Engineering and SAE-Wichita Section.
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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.