MHS to rep CNMI at RWDC nationals

The Aeronautics team of Marianas High School will represent the CNMI at the upcoming Real World Design Challenge national championship in Washington, D.C. this April.

Team MHS won overall at the CNMI-level Real World Design Challenge, an annual competition that gives high school students an opportunity to work on real-world engineering challenges in a team environment.

The national RWDC will take place on April 25.

Team MHS members are Holly Liban, project manager; Gengyan Liu, chief designer; Seung Ju Lee, theoretical scientist; Microl Chen, project mathematician; Jinseok Park, systems designer; Jieun Yang, simulations engineer; and Vivien Liu, business director.

This year, the team was tasked to design a small aerial vehicle, or drone, capable of delivering about 1,500 packages to specific locations.

The Aeronautics team’s drone, which they named after the legendary Chamorro chief, “Taga,” is a multi-rotor type that can take off and land vertically, and operate in an urban environment. Team MHS claims that the Taga has excellent aerodynamics, which saves fuel and electricity.

Taga’s composition includes a LIDAR sensor that allows it to automatically avoid obstacles; a brushless motor that allows the drone to take off and fly; a battery; and a Global Positioning System, or GPS, which pinpoints the location of the drone and allows for swift movement.

The team members credit their knowledge in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field for the creation of Taga.

According to Liban, the competition helped them become aware of real-world problems.

“This year’s mission was to design a drone that could deliver packages to an urban area. Our team learned that delivery trucks increase the carbon footprint and pollution in an area. By utilizing small drones to deliver packages, the city can significantly decrease its amount of road congestion and environmental pollution,” she said.

Last Tuesday, the MHS Aeronautics team presented Taga to Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada, Board of Education chair Janice Tenorio, and other education officials.

According to Bobby Cruz, who chairs the RWDC competition here in the CNMI, the MHS Aeronautics team has demonstrated their ability and significant achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in a real-world problem-solving scenario.

“They have proven once again that they are among the best and brightest students in the region and the nation,” he said.

Associate Commissioner for Student & Support Services Dr. Yvonne Pangelinan commended the students for surpassing expectations.

“That’s a testimony to what this world can expect of our kids from [the Public School System]. You are imaginative, you have heart, and you’ve done the work that needs to be done in a challenge that is theoretical, but the work that you do can impact the world,” she said.