Hi,

In the Northern California's finals, there were first place teams from San Jose State, CSU East bay, UC Davis, UCSF, Fresno State, UC Santa Cruz, University of the Pacific, and field stations from MESA centers all over northern California. Four teams from Bridges Academy qualified to represent San Jose State University by placing first at the preliminary competition in March. We competed in the Popsicle stick bridge, think tank (MESA's version of shark tank), mesa machine (MESA's version of the rube Goldberg machine), and prosthetic arm competition. It was a great experience. Students got to experience google VR and ask google employees questions. Our students proved that they can compete against the best of the best. We took home awards in 3 out of the 4 competitions.

Popsicle Bridge

1st place: Cuong Ha, Isaac Calderon, Xavier Silva

Prosthetic Arm

1st place: Cristel Garcia and Dorothy Nghiem

Think Tank

2nd place: Mitzel Solorio and Victor Tran

In addition, Cuong Ha, Isaac Calderon, Xavier Silva, Cristel Garcia, and Dorothy Nghiem took home ribbons for creative designs.

Join us next year for MESA as we will continue to have fun, learn about math, science, and engineering. Also, come help us continue to demonstrate that Bridges Academy students are learning high-level engineering that will prepare them for the work world.