Coaches' Corner—
Resources for Educators

TEAMS has just concluded the 2007 competition season, with over 1250 teams from nearly 700 high schools from across the country and around the world competing this year. State rankings and national qualifiers will be announced March 26th, but a big congratulations goes out to all those who participated.

Teams 2007 at The George Washington University,
Washington, D.C.

TEAMS challenges high school students to work in groups to solve real world engineering scenarios in a fast-paced, one-day, two-part competition. Test problems focus on topics relative to today's society, with some of this year's questions pertaining to energy efficiency, hurricane impact, and cancer treatments. This year competitions took place at 70 different host sites and over 20 remote sites including some in Spain and Turkey.

Stay tuned for updated recognitions and awards from the 2007 competition and check back to find out how to get involved in TEAMS 2008. To learn more about TEAMS, request a free DVD and brochure by logging onto the TEAMS website at: /teams/index.cfm.

JETS launched the 5th edition of the signature assessment tool, aptly renamed, ASSESS on February 1st! Formerly known as the NEAS+ assessment tool, the newly updated and revised ASSESS now features three parts: explore, assess, and experience.

This academic self-assessment tool is designed to help high school students identify their strengths and weaknesses in subject areas important for success in college engineering and technology programs such as mathematical understanding, science reading and reasoning, and practical understanding.

Students can take ASSESS individually and at their convenience or through a program offered by their high school, a university, college or professional organization. ASSESS is being offered at an introductory price of just $12 now through April 1st. After April 1st, the price will return to its usual amount of $20, with quantity discounts available.

Washington, DC, February 16, 2007 — Five high school students from Gardner Edgerton High School received today the top prize of $3,000 for their school, in the National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC), sponsored by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day/Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS). The National Engineering Design Challenge is a contest for high school students around the country, to build technologies that tear down a barrier to employment for people with disabilities. More…

JETS and MIT Women's Initiative Join Forces to bring you a 30 minute teleconference for the Eweek Global Marathon For, By, and About Women in Engineering. Be sure to dial in on Thursday, March 22, 2007, from 8:30-9:00 pm EST, to listen to two MIT student engineers, Megan and Rebecca, talk about their adventures in engineering, their career aspirations, and what they've discovered. This session will be valuable to students, parents, and educators and will help participants learn how an engineering degree can lead to not only a rewarding engineering career, but medicine, law and business. Please click here for the complete Global Marathon schedule.

New JETS Clubs in 2007 — Stay tuned for more information on the NEW JETS CLUBS coming in September 2007! The new JETS Clubs will include monthly contests, online Clubs community, new partnerships and much, much more!

JETS Clubs makes all of JETS resources and benefits available to students, parents, teachers and club leaders in a new package. Members receive a welcome packet and a monthly email which includes JETS Challenge problems, a TEAMS problem, two activities courtesy of The Engineering Pathway Portal, and several discussion topics. Most importantly, each email contains a preformatted lesson plan for use in your club.

In addition, JETS Clubs members also receive a subscription to the Pre-Engineering Times, special discounts at the JETS Store, TEAMS and NEDC updates and registration fee promotions, and much more. Best of all it's free! There is no fee to participate during the inaugural year. For more information contact us at clubs@jets.org or (703) 548-5387 x 104.

Don't wait! Sign up today and start receiving your JETS Club Benefits.

Attending NSTA annual conference in St. Louis?
Drop by the booth Engineering Resources for the Classroom (booth # 2397) to meet with a JETS representative. Find out how YOU can start a JETS Club, participate in a JETS competition, and learn about our brand new engineering diagnostic tool — ASSESS. Unlocking the mysteries of engineering has never been so easy!

Design Squad, a new television show that premiered on PBS in February 2007, is part reality competition, all engineering, and major fun. Design Squad follows eight high school students as they compete to design and build fantastic, whimsical, fully operational engineering projects. Projects include everything from a machine that automatically makes pancakes to a motorized red wagon that can reach speeds up to 20mph. In the final episode, the two top-scorers battle for the Grand Prize-a college scholarship provided by the Intel Foundation. Visit http://pbskidsgo.org/designsquad and watch a clip from the show, meet the cast, and take a sneak peek inside the set.

Thanks to all the students who submitted an application for the Next Generation Scholarship! Your interest in helping fuel the future of power generation is encouraging!

Applications are currently being reviewed and a winner(s) will be announced in May 2007.

Look for the announcement in the Pre-Engineering Times and on JETS home web page at www.jets.org.