By Cynthia Chin
Madison East High School
Engineering Club students Sam Brunner and Odin Pourchot created a display for visitors at the Friends of Urban Nature (FUN) Bird and Nature Festival at Warner Park in April. Their topic was biomimetics, the science of design based on observation of living organisms in nature. Featured inventions included Velcro (imitating seed pods with burrs), wind turbine blades (mimicking the flippers of humpback whales), and a bullet train (cutting through the air in tunnels like a kingfisher slices through water).
In March, Engineering Club students Josemaria Barut, Sam Brunner, Chidinma Oguejiofor, Henry Plautz, Odin Pourchot, Christopher Teggatz and Ronan Tinnen conducted hands-on activities at the Hawthorne Elementary Family Science Night.
On April 12, Serafina Monat, Sam Brunner, Henry Plautz, ,Chidinma Oguejiofor and Chris Teggatz attended the UW-Madison Engineering EXPO, hosted by members of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). In addition to discussing computer science and computer engineering with NSBE members, East students spoke with undergraduates and graduate lab members about their work.
Later that evening, Sam Brunner, Ronan Tinnen, Eva Tiako, Odin Pourchot and teacher Karen Paschke represented East at the Engineers Without Borders annual donor banquet. They learned about projects in Africa, Latin America and Peru.
In April three East engineering students attended the 50th National Convention of the National Society of Black Engineers in Chicago. They toured the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Engineering School, participated in the Try-Math-alon competition, and met with college and industry recruiters.
The Skills USA State Leadership and Skills Conference was held at the Alliant Energy Center in April. Eighty teams from all over the state participated in the design-on-the-spot engineering competition. Each team had to create a model house that would withstand heavy flooding. The East team consisting of Molly Lenius, Martin Meitner and Christopher Teggatz tied for 35th. The East team consisting of Merideth Zantow, Genesis Solache and Cassandra Solace placed 56th.
Our Upper Division Math Modeling Team did not advance beyond the first round in the MathWorks M3 Challenge in March. However, their creative application of Newton’s Law of Cooling to the problem of dangerous summer heat buildup in the aging infrastructure of urban areas did attract special notice from the contest judges. Congratulations to Moss Carpenter, Atticus Curwen, Chidinma Oguejiofor and Lillian Sather Goldman.
The Purple Comet math meet is an international event that our Math Club has come to enjoy. It is a collaborative online competition that rewards creative use of mathematics. East entered one team this year: Abbott Carlson, Atticus Curwen, Ellis Duffy, Molly Lenius, Qian Pasch, Kiran Tinnen. Results will be released in late May.
The Pi Mile Fundraiser to support equitable graphing calculator access took place May 24. We always look forward to the positive community support and spirit on display at this event. Thanks to all in-person and virtual participants, as well as our local pie makers.
The end of May also brings two UW lab groups to East. The Nuclear Engineering Society will lead students in a fusion energy activity, and the Fluid Processes in Environmental Engineering Group will build on lab work previously conducted by East physics teachers Taylor Bailey and Jennafer Winesett.
As we close out another academic year, thank you to the readers of the Northside News for your continued interest, goodwill and active support. Watch for our STEM students to accomplish great things in 2025-2026.
