Shadow Mountain High School Excels in TEAMS Competition

PHOENIX - May 8, 2009 - As the Summer travel season heats up across the state, there is a feeling many Arizonans will soon experience – the fluttering stomach butterflies, sweaty palms and nervous excitement that are so common when waiting in line to ride the ultra-scary loopedy-loop rollercoaster.

But what keeps those cars up in the air, providing that excitement? More importantly – what keeps those riders up in the air, experiencing that excitement?

You might want to ask the Shadow Mountain High School TEAMS Team. And no, that wasn’t a typo.

TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science) is a challenging engineering competition requiring students to work in competitive groups. The annual academic competition sponsored by the Junior Engineering Technical Society provides high school students with the opportunity to discover the practical applications of math and science by solving some of today’s greatest engineering challenges.

Shadow Mountain High School has competed in TEAMS every year since 1994. This year, participating students were asked to make the real-word connection between math, science and engineering and apply it to the theme: Behind the Scenes: Theme Parks.

Shadow Mountain literally took the topic and hit it out of the park, becoming the only team from a public school in Arizona to qualify for nationals TEAM competition (Phoenix Country Day also advanced).

At nationals, the Shadow Mountain team also shined finishing fourth in Division 9 out of 49 schools nationwide.

In other words, these students have those roller coaster questions all figured out! During the first round of judging, Shadow Mountain’s TEAMS team (again, no typo) worked together to answer varied multiple-choice questions regarding the operation of theme parks such as the safety of roller coasters and water tank issues for dolphin environments. The second portion of the test, which accounted for Shadow Mountain’s fourth-place finish in Division 9, was a written analysis of the engineering issues faced by theme parks.

Team members included: Daniel Koch, senior; Michael Lott, senior; Tom Boundy, senior; Emma White, senior; Mike Kuchner, senior; Ashley Brunk, senior; Nick Dunteman, junior and Adrienne Kishi, junior. The team was coached by Debbie Grieder, math coach, Precalculus and Calculus; Sandy Harness, AP Physics and AP Chemistry; and Lori Woltz, Honors Chemistry.

Brunk, one of the senior leaders of the team, said, “TEAMS offered a unique cooperative problem-solving experience. I was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the competition.”

Dunteman, one of the team’s two juniors, added: “TEAMS was fun and rewarding. I hope I get to compete again next year.”

With Shadow Mountain High School’s impressive performance this year, Dunteman and classmate Kishi could lead the school to even more impressive national results in 2010!