High school students throughout Wisconsin teamed up to participate in the annual Wisconsin Project Lead The Way Engineering Design Competition in 2020-21. MSOE is proud to recognize eight of the top teams in the state. The competition is held annually and encourages high school students in the PLTW capstone courses of Engineering Design & Development (EDD) or Biomedical Innovations to submit their culminating projects for judging. Professionals in STEM fields across the country judge student portfolios of work, and the top eight are recognized for their performance. Over 20 teams competed in this year’s competition from across the state.

This year’s first place project was Otic Amp – Music Amplification Using Smart Phones by Alexis Fleegel and Veronica Diercks from Medford Area Senior High School. Their project developed a speaker system for phones that does not require batteries to help enhance the listening and user experience on a Bluetooth speaker. For their performance, the team received a $4,000 scholarship award and funding for New Product Development Assessment by the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center. Their EDD teacher is Tracy Swedlund.

Box Ox – Sliding Truck Bed by Tahtankka Damm and Logan Searles from Medford Area Senior High School took second place. Their project is a truck bed accessory meant for increased accessibility. It allows the user to get hard-to-reach items with higher efficiency and safety through a sliding and folding platform. For their performance, their team received a $2,000 scholarship award and funding for New Product Development Assessment by the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center. Their EDD teacher is Tracy Swedlund.

In third place was Organized Organization by Juliet Perez, Nicholas Ocampo and Jack Serketich from St. Thomas More High School in Milwaukee. Their project sought out to address the dangers with poor cable management through educating the public. This was solved throughout the year by making an educational resource website called “Organized Organization.” It gives the user information on cable management, a list of solutions, descriptions of those solutions and, the crowning feature, a quiz that gives the user the best product for their specific cable system. For their performance, their team received a $1,000 scholarship award and funding for New Product Development Assessment by the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center. Their EDD teacher is Emily Pirkl.

This year’s finalist teams and projects were:

• Easy Up – Garage Storage Lift by Joseph Gierl, Michael Errthum and Abe Miller from Medford Area Senior High School
• St. Thomas More Athletic Complex Upgrades by Lukas Schwenke, JP Kowalski, Sean VanHandel and Andon Kenenakhone from St. Thomas More High School
• Elasticleat by Anika Einbeck, Sam Tinoco and John Reinders from Monroe High School
• Greywater Irrigation System by Alicia Carella, Jazmin Lara and Benjamin Rosales from St. Thomas More High School
• Snow Clearing Mat by Ellen Killoran, Joseph Missurelli and Grace Mortell from St. Thomas More High School

MSOE would like to extend a special thanks to the following individuals who spent hours volunteering to review and evaluate the engineering portfolios submitted by the students: Jason Beck, Marie Dudenas, Omar Elshelkany, Jim Farral, Nikos Gainacopulos, Dr. Ron Gerrits, Bryan Gorman, Dr. Eryn Hassemer, Richard Lokken, Brandon Mikulski, Max Mutza, Joe Noworatzky, Liliana Orozco, Sarah Pelzek, James Surfus, Terri Tessmann and Chris Shaw.