West-Oak Schools attend PLTW Engineering Competition

West-Oak Middle School Project Lead The Way and Gateway To Technology students attended the very first Engineering Competition at the University of South Carolina on March 11. West-Oak Middle School students selected to attend this event were Levi James (8^th grade), Maddy Lee (7^th grade) and Drew Jacobs (6^th grade). They traveled with West-Oak High School students Tim Wayman, Garrett McGuffin, and Dustin Drake (all 9^th graders). This is an established event for Project Lead The Way high school students who annually compete against other high school teams from across the state. However, this is the first year Gateway To Technology middle school students have been invited to compete. By invitation, nine middle schools attended the event. The University of South Carolina provided lunch and t-shirts for all participating students. Upon arrival, student groups were given the task of designing a solution to a given problem. They had to create a sketch and AutoDesk Inventor drawing of their solution, and build a model of their solution. The West-Oak Middle School students were awarded a trophy for First Place in Research.