GMS seventh-graders win 15th annual state eCybermission STEM competition

Sunday, April 30, 2017

A Greencastle Middle School seventh-grade team is the state winner in the 15th annual eCybermission competition, the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) has announced.

"These students have been working on this project since November. I am so proud of them," team adviser/coach Stacie Stoffregen said.

The Greencastle Middle School team of Stephen Dombrowski (left), Casey Crary, Maieasha Rashid and Iris Mackenzie of the GMS Special Science Projects Division worked together to investigate the scientific question, "Are there microfibers in Big Walnut Creek?"

The contest is one of several science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives sponsored by the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program.

Administered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), eCybermission promotes self-discovery and enables students to recognize the real-life applications of science, math, technology and mathematics (STEM). The competition challenges students in grades six through nine to develop solutions to real-world problems in their local communities.

Greencastle Middle School had five eCybermission teams submit mission folders for the 2016-17 competition.

The team of Casey Crary, Stephen Dombrowski, Iris Mackenzie and Maieasha Rashid of Greencastle Middle School Special Science Projects Division worked together with Stacie Stoffregen (team adviser) and Sharon Crary (DePauw University mentor) to investigate the scientific question, "Are there microfibers in Big Walnut Creek?"

The teams then submitted their mission folder -- the official write-up of the project -- through the eCybermission website to be evaluated and scored by

volunteer virtual judges in February.

State-winning first-place teams receive $1,000 per student in U.S. EE Savings Bonds and second-place teams receive $500 per student in U.S. EE Savings Bonds. The team was notified over spring break of top finish in the state. On Tuesday, April 25 the state champion team competed regionally via a video conference with a panel of judges. The team prepared a four-minute presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session.

"The U.S. Army applauds all the students for challenging themselves to the eCybermission competition in efforts to improve their communities," Louie R. Lopez, AEOP cooperative agreement manager, said.

"Congratulations to all the state-winning teams and we encourage students to continue building their interest and knowledge in STEM."

"eCybermission not only encourages students to be both creative and scientific, but also requires them to think critically while developing innovative solutions to some of their communities most challenging issues," Mary Gromko, NSTA president sad. "We congratulate the state winners and commend all of the team advisers for engaging and empowering their students to make a real difference in the world around them."

In the next round of the eCybermission competition, a panel of judges will evaluate the top three scores from each region in each grade level. This past Tuesday, 60 regional finalist teams competed to advance as one of 20 national finalists, moving on to compete at the National Judging and Educational Event June 26-30 in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the eCybermission competition, go to https://www.ecybermission.com .

eCybermission is a web-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competition free to students in grades six through nine that promotes self-discovery and enables all students to recognize the real-life applications of STEM. Teams of three or four students are instructed to ask questions (for science) or define problems (for engineering), and then construct explanations (for science) or design solutions (for engineering) based on identified problems in their community.

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  • Way to go team!!! Great job

    -- Posted by gfd622 on Sun, Apr 30, 2017, at 6:48 PM
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