TSA-TEAMS Competition Challenges Pre-College Students in Engineering

Published: Monday, March 2, 2020

On Monday, March 16, 2020, NJIT will make science competitive yet fun when it hosts the Technology Student Association’s Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TSA-TEAMS). The annual, statewide STEM competition for middle and high school students is designed to help them discover their potential for engineering in an engaging way, by showing them how math and science, with an engineering focus, are used to make tangible differences in the world.

Through TSA-TEAMS, students are introduced to an “engineering team” work environment to build their problem-solving skills across several academic areas and learn to work cooperatively during the competition. Afterward students feel more confident about participating in STEM activities and have both an enhanced knowledge of engineering and an increased ability to work with others to solve complex problems.

TSA-TEAMS poses objective questions and problems in math, physics, chemistry, biology, computers and English. The middle and high school teams with the highest scores win the competition and a chance to have their national exams judged among schools from all over the United States. The TSA, a national nonprofit organization for students engaged in STEM, then recognizes the Top 10 national teams in each division, and each student on a nationally ranked team receives a Certificate of Achievement.

Each year TSA-TEAMS focuses on a theme, with original academic and innovative concepts developed for the competition based on the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges. TSA-TEAMS 2020’s theme will be “Engineering in the Wild.”

NJIT has hosted TSA-TEAMS for more than two decades and this year will welcome 42 teams of four to eight students who possess both great interest in STEM fields and strong academic achievements. The TSA oversees similar events in 32 states.

Team registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Campus Center Gallery. For more information, contact the university’s Center for Pre-College Programs at 973-596-3550 or cpcp@njit.edu.

PARTICIPATING HIGH SCHOOLS: Applied Technology, Fair Lawn, Governor Livingston, High Technology, Hillside, Long Branch, Mahwah, New Providence, Northern Valley Regional at Old Tappan, Sparta High School Engineering STEM Academy, Spotswood, STEM Innovation Academy of Oranges and Tenafly.

PARTICIPATING MIDDLE SCHOOLS: Heywood Avenue School, Hoboken Charter School, HoLa Hoboken Dual Language Charter School and New Providence.