The 2021 Capital Area/West Texas Consolidated Divisional STEM Competition was hosted virtually over Whova and Zoom on Saturday, January 30, 2021. More than 80 student competitors from across the region attended the free event.
Texas students from grades 6-12 competed in teams to solve an all-virtual Engineering Design Challenge. Participants were sworn to secrecy about the Challenge – at least until February 28th, when students across the state had their chance to try their skills solving the same problem. This year’s challenge was developed by engineers from ConocoPhillips.
The Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and preparing Texas students to join a strong and diverse STEM workforce. TAME programs encourage students to build skills and explore STEM concepts through hands-on activities, TAME Clubs, and statewide and divisional STEM Competitions.
The top six teams from the Engineering Design Challenge were recognized. Three teams also received a special Judges’ Choice Award for teamwork and creative problem solving. All students on the top two teams will be invited to participate in the Virtual State STEM Competition on April 24, 2021. Invitations will be sent out in March to students who qualify to participate.
Thanks to the support of TAME’s 2021 Statewide STEM Competition sponsor ConocoPhillips, STEM Competitions across Texas are offered free of charge for all participants. TAME thanks our 2021 Awards Sponsor Halliburton, our Capital Area Sponsors Northrup Grumman and Silicon Labs, and our West Texas Sponsor Permian Basin Area Foundation.
TAME is especially grateful to the West Texas Chapter Chair and Competition Coordinator Dr. Kim McKay of Odessa College. We would also like to thank our dedicated TAME Club Sponsors, and the many volunteers from ATS Engineers, Lockheed Martin, Odessa College, Round Rock ISD, The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the Women in Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering (WPGE) student organization for celebrating achievement in STEM and making learning fun and exciting for Texas students.
More information on TAME’s annual STEM Competitions can be found here. See more about TAME’s plan for the 2020-21 school year. Want to get involved in planning local and statewide TAME events? Learn more here.
Congratulations to all our hardworking competitors!
A screenshot from the Awards Ceremony of the 2021 Capital Area/West Texas STEM Competition.
PARTICIPANTS
The following TAME Clubs participated in the event:
| Club Name | TAME Chapter |
| Canyon Vista Middle School | Capital Area |
| Cedar Valley Girls in Engineering | Capital Area |
| Cedar Valley Middle School | Capital Area |
| Fort Stockton High School | West Texas |
| McNeil High School | Capital Area |
| Odessa Collegiate Academy | West Texas |
| Pecos High School | West Texas |
| Pflugerville High School | Capital Area |
ENGINEERING DESIGN CHALLENGE RESULTS
The six top scoring teams were recognized with awards. All students on the top two teams will be invited to participate in the Virtual State STEM Competition on April 24, 2021.
| 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place | 4th Place | 5th Place | 6th Place |
| Team 14 | Team 8 | Team 3 | Team 6 | Team 15 | Team 13 |
| Drilling the Future | Geo-Armadillos | IDK | peTAMEleum | Team Oil | Team Unstoppable |
| Araceli Munoz | Alex Nunez | Aiden Rayos | Mayah Ritter | Aarohi Bhattacharya | Benita Narula |
| Hyojun Moon | Changxu Liu | Damian Dodson | Roberto Salinas | Anagha Deepak | Leo Zheng |
| Jaewan Ok | James Li | Eungyo Moon | Safwan Siraj | Grace Sng | Prisha Goyal |
| Sairamana Sivakumar | Savion Fagan | Evelinda Kessey | Susanna Kim | Jonathan Mendoza | Rithul Bhat |
| Shrishti Mahajan | Sritam Pradhan | Kyndahl Britton | Ye-Un Go | Shreeya Khatiwada | Tamara Arenivas |
| Victoria Davis | Steven Luu |
JUDGES’ CHOICE AWARDS
Because STEM fields rely on creative problem solving, three Judges’ Choice Awards were presented to teams who communicated well to create a strong strategy, and who prioritized creativity and teamwork.
| Judges’ Choice | Judges’ Choice | Judges Choice |
| Team 4 | Team 11 | Team 7 |
| The Oil Engineers | Well Finders | Busy Bees |
| Daria Bobrovskikh | Devin Thenuwara | Alexia Sanchez |
| Karen Serrano | Hanish Mamidi | Andrew Suh |
| Max Chung Richter | Jamie Tyler | Harley Chu |
| Navnith Naveen Prabhu | Joan Papricia Amalraj | Kelsey Richards |
| Sarina Gharbi | Sumin Yeo | Soham Pradhan |
| Tamara Hinderman |
Thanks to our Sponsors!
Statewide Sponsor
Statewide Awards Sponsor
Corporate & Foundation Sponsors
ExxonMobil, Google, Howmet Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Permian Basin Area Foundation, PPG, Rackspace, Silicon Labs, and Xcel Energy
Higher Education Partners
Angelo State University, Odessa College, Texas Tech University, University of Houston, The University of Texas at Austin, and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
