11-STEM Competitions
Mu Alpha Theta represents PRHS well in various math competitions held throughout the region. The 54 member team placed in multiple games during the 2015-2016 school year including 1st place overall finish during three games at North Gwinnett High School. Notably, Shawn Im placed 19th out of 300 competitors at the UGA Competition. The team’s overall success was noted when they placed 2nd overall in the 6A+ State Math Tournament.
Our TSA (Technology Students Association) continues to have a strong presence at the state level as well. Eleven students placed at the GTSA Conference in fashion design, video game design, and engineering design. Their work through TSA is being used to launch independent research projects in the SPIRE classrooms. A total of 44 SPIRE students are actively participating in TSA.
Our PR Robolions continue to dominate the robotic world.
2016 FIRST World Championship, Division Semi-Finalist
2016 Peachtree District State Championships, Innovation in Control and District Finalist
2016 Kennesaw, Excellence in Engineering and District Winner
2016 Albany, Industrial Award, District Winner and Chairman’s Award
Eighteen of the Robotics team members are female. These students are leaders in their classrooms as well as in the community. They worked with students at three of our elementary schools and one of our middle schools last year helping younger students develop thinking skills and a love for Robotics. This year Robotics will be available to all students K-12 (4 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and the high school) in the attendance zone largely due to their work. Furthermore, we now offer a Robotics course during the day as part of our SPIRE program. A total of 84 SPIRE students participate in the Robolions program.
A continual focus on the Engineering Design Process was evident as Peachtree Ridge claimed multiple awards at the 2016 Gwinnett Science & Engineering Fair and progressed to competition at the Georgia SEF. Josephine Rudd, Nitheyaa Shree, and Mackenzie Glaser placed 2nd at the state science fair in the Biomedical Engineering category and won the Women in STEM award at the Gwinnett Regional Science Fair. Their project focused on the concept that blind individuals do not have the ability to tell when UV conditions outdoors are at a harmful level and no efficient method exists to notify blind individuals when to get out of the sun. The project’s goal was to help all types of people with or without disabilities, including the blind or deaf, with motor stimuli stemming from a UV sensor in the form of a wearable band.
Arish Nurani, Tyler Copeland, and Alex Lessley also placed 2nd at the State Science Fair in the Biomedical Engineering category. They created a way for patients who suffer from Parkinson’s Disease to drink their beverages without constantly having to worry about a mess if they drop their drinks. A total of 251 SPIRE students entered the competition.