BRSD News: Seven students competed at Princeton University's Engineering Colloquium

Seven Bridgewater-Raritan High School students are building a bright future in engineering. Their building of a tower and bridge during a recent event proves that statement.

These seven students—each a junior at Bridgewater-Raritan High School—tackled the challenges when they competed in the Princeton University Society of Women Engineers’ Spring High School Engineering Colloquium on Saturday, April 20.

Dr. Eleni Arapaki, who teaches six students who participated at Princeton University in her Advanced Placement (AP) Physics 1 class, explained the organization and the event.

“The Princeton chapter of the National Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an organization that supports women in engineering and also dedicates time to encouraging younger women to become engineers,’ Dr. Arapaki said. “One of the organization’s major goals is outreach, and in a rapidly developing world with endless opportunities for discovery, creativity, and invention, building a strong workforce of engineers is essential to moving new ideas forward.”

Dr. Arapaki further detailed the program.

“The event series is designed to introduce high school students to the field of engineering and provide them with an excellent opportunity to connect with current female engineers and other students interested in STEM.”.

“The series includes a panel of Princeton professors with a Q&A session, a panel of students studying the various fields of engineering with chances for small group discussion, a panel of Princeton professors with a Q&A session, hands-on engineering activities led by Princeton engineering students, and an expo of various engineering extracurriculars at Princeton,” Dr. Arapaki said.

She stated that seven of the Bridgewater-Raritan High students were nominated and attended the event.  Dr. Arapaki’s AP Physics 1 students were Varsha Chirra, Emma Fitzpatrick, Alice Jiang, Nandika Nambiar, Nikita Kumar, and Riya Shenvi. Cosette Cornfield, a student from Lilia Klubuk's Academic Physics class, was the other participant.

She reported that there were two challenges offered; one was to build the highest tower, and one was to make the longest bridge.  “Nandika's and Alice's group won first place with a 59-inch tall construction, while Emma's and Cosette's group earned second place with a 55-inch tall tower. And Varsha’s, Nikita’s, and Riya’s team finished in second place for the longest bridge challenge when they constructed a 151-inch-long bridge!”

“We are extremely proud of our future engineers,” Dr. Arapaki said.

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