Team Hurricane Wolves Impress at Tech Challenge!

CSI Hurricane Wolves (L to R: Claire Gray, Joshua Judson, Jay Patel, Logan Centeio, Abdullah Babayev, Joseph Tighe)

Written by Maria Gray

On Sunday, April 30th, six CSI 6th and 7th graders participated in the Tech Challenge put on by the Tech Interactive in San Jose. This event was the culmination of months of hard work and planning by these students, their advisors, Ms. Haughs & Ms. Toy, and their families. This year’s challenge was to build a structure to protect vulnerable objects from extreme winds, and the team took the challenge head on and really tapped into their understanding of Design Thinking. 

Early in January the team interviewed a staff member who had been hit hard by the New Year’s storms, and they used that information to help inform how they would approach the design process. Meeting at lunch, they would ideate, prototype, test, make changes, test again, over and over until they submitted their final design at the Tech Challenge. As the Challenge grew closer, the team felt they needed more time, so they started meeting after school two days a week to allow for more testing and time spent on the prototype. Their dedication was impressive!

One of the most important parts of the Challenge is keeping a journal where the team documents their process from beginning to end. Once at the Challenge, the team is interviewed by a pair of judges, and our CSI Hurricane Wolves really stood out. So much so that the judges sent feedback directly to Principal Thordarson letting her know just how impressive our students were. They earned the highest score of the day in their interview! One judge said, “We really loved to see how this eclectic and diverse group of kids was so engaged in their project, and how every one of them had a voice.” The other judge’s comment was, “Team Hurricane Wolves left Ed and I feeling enthusiastic about our next generation of leaders.”

Let’s give Team Hurricane Wolves a big Huzzah and job well done! They did fantastic, persevered through several obstacles, and came out of the Challenge feeling good about what they accomplished. We can’t wait to see what CSI students can do at next year’s Tech Challenge!

For more information about the Tech Challenge, click here.