Once each year in 90 locations throughout the country, JETS coordinates a day-long competition where high school students gather in small teams at colleges and universities to tackle engineering challenges. More than 14,000 students from 650 high schools participated in the TEAMS Competition in 2007.

The 2008 TEAMS challenge will enliven the competition even more by tapping into the excitement of next year's Olympics, asking students to look behind the scenes at the engineering involved in large-scale athletic events.

Whether it's NASCAR, the World Cup, Super Bowl or Beijing 2008, enormous public sports spectacles present a host of logistical engineering challenges. From facility design to equipment development, traffic needs, security, and communications and information technology, engineering is critical to ensure that an event runs smoothly and efficiently.

To add a creative aspect to the event, Shell Oil Company will invite all participating students to create a t-shirt design that incorporates the TEAMS competition's "behind-the scenes" theme o and students at every competition will receive a free t-shirt, meaning that one student's design will be worn by thousands of fellow students across the United States. In addition, the design will also appear on the front cover of the TEAMS competition set. A panel of judges from Shell will choose the final winner.

While many people think of engineering as bound by the limits of math and science, the t-shirt design contest underscores the importance of creativity in the engineering process and the career possibilities in engineering for those with an artistic bent.

The team submitting the winning design will have its registration fees covered by JETS. Also new for 2008 will be a grand prize of $5,000 to the top performing team in the combined score of Parts I and II of the competition. (Part I is 80 multiple choice questions based on eight topics that students answer in open book/open discussion format. Part II consists of short answer extensions to four topics from Part I. Each part lasts 90 minutes.) Students who do well in Part I move on to "National Rankings." Among that group, Part II answers are used to determine each team's rank. Additionally, students in teams that return from previous years' competitions are now eligible for the new Most Improved Award, recognizing those that make the greatest strides in their Part I scores.

"Encouraging a broad range of students in high school to study math and science is critical to the future of the energy industry," said John D. Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company. "Developing these skills early will help prepare students for a future career in a technology-driven field. For Shell, the TEAMS t-shirt contest sponsorship is an investment in our future." Another change for 2008 comes in the form of Challenge Scenarios. Formerly known as "competition problem statements," these scenarios will be issued in pairs every two weeks beginning in October of 2007. By working with the Challenge Scenarios, participating teams will have a chance to hone their TEAMS skills with sample topics in the months leading up to the actual day of the competition in February and March.

"Besides helping to pace teams in their preparation, the two-week staggering will encourage young people to regularly return to our website at www.jets.org for TEAMS updates and other outreach efforts," says JETS executive director Leann Yoder. Yoder also noted that JETS will align TEAMS to national math, science, and technology standards to make it easier for high school teachers to incorporate the competition into school curriculum.

"We're determined to make TEAMS, and all JETS outreach programs, responsive to the needs and interests of students, teachers and the engineering community," says Yoder. "In the end, everyone benefits."