Birchwood School Press Release: Students Excel in NASA's Young Astronaut Competition

CLEVELAND—At the NASA Glenn 17th annual Young Astronaut Day Challenge on Nov. 7th, Birchwood School soared by winning a first place ribbon for the Balloon Propulsion Competition. They also had the fastest time for the Inspace Repair Challenge. In the Wind Power Challenge, they earned a third place ribbon for generating the most power from their turbine.

The day is filled with hands-on activities and competitions that are intended to stimulate an interest in aeronautics, space science and engineering. A total of 350 students from Greater Cleveland gathered at the challenge. The day’s events started with a talk given by NASA astronaut Sunita L. Williams, a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station (ISS). During the talk, Birchwood 5th grade student Vinny K was chosen to model the distance of the
ISS from the moon.

The students competed in a variety of engineering and scientific challenges. Birchwood’s Pilot (5-6th Grade) team was composed of Marco B, Katherine B, Alexis H, Vinny K, Darius Z (5th Grade) and Hajira A, Christine B, Clive C, Dhweeja D, Alex H, Jorgen K, Kavya R, Katelyn V, Naomi W (6th Grade). This is the team that won the first place ribbon for the Balloon Propulsion Competition, had the fastest time for the In-space Repair Challenge and earned a third place ribbon in the Wind Power Challenge.

The Commanders (7-8th Grade) team was made up of Nicholas J, Trevor L, Prithvi P, Sanjana and Susmita R, Hassan S, Brad S, Hannah Y (7th Grade), Nathan C, Deepak K, and Mohammed M (8th Grade). The Commanders earned a special ribbon in the Aerodynamic Protection Competition and also earned a ribbon for “most improvement” in the Aerodynamic Drag Challenge.

Dec 2009 5-8 Math Awards

5th-8th Math
November was the start of math competitions and here
are the results:
Continental Math League
Gold Award
Christine B, Katelyn V, Kavya R, Clive C, Sue R, Sunny R,
Vikas N, Alexander I, Sarah D, Zaeem M, Deepak K, Grant
F, Nathan C, Shawki A, and Michael T

Silver award
Carlf C, Munim M, Clare P, Lu Lu S, Peter A, Hajira A, Nate
C, Dhweeja D, Jorgen K, Cameron S, Shan S, Kareem T,
Naomi W, Vinayak K, and Ammar M

Bronze award
Zach I, Miguel P, Ben W, Marla B, Amir F, Nicholas J, Prithvi
P, Brad S, Hannah Y, Dayla A, Marco B, Anthony C, Mayla
F, and Darius Z

Math Olympiads
Gold award
Munim M, Sue R, Sunny R, Joren K, and Pheby L

Silver award
Shawki A, Nathan C, Grant F, Clare P, Nardine T, Vikas N,
Clive C, Kavya R, Christine B, and Nate C

Bronze award
Zaeem M, Carlf C, Sunny R, Hassan S, Marla B, Amir F,
Brad S, Hannah Y, Alex P, A.J. S, Katelyn V, Naomi W,
Cameron S, Hajira A, Kareem T, Dhweeja D, Darius Z,
Vinayak K, and Maya F

Great Job!