San Marcos Royals Engineers Win at Raytheon
updated: Feb 27, 2013, 11:51 AM

By San Marcos High School

Raytheon held its 13th annual Engineer Games this past Thurs, Feb. 21st and San Marcos High School came out as the winners with an amazing score of 11 out of 10 because of their exceptionally fine design and fabrication skills. Raytheon has conducted the contest during "Engineering Week" and is designed to expose high school students to real world engineering problems. The challenges are all based on Math, Science, and Engineering while Raytheon designs them to be both fun and educational.

This year's theme was "Wild Wild Gas" and students had to design and create a Stirling engine using everyday common materials such as soda cans and steel wool. A Stirling engine uses renewable energy by taking a difference in temperatures and converting it into usable mechanical energy. "Students had to take advantage of thermodynamic principles and convert that energy into mechanical energy in the form of the Stirling engine," stated Ted Lumanlan, who was in charge of the event for Raytheon.

San Marcos senior Michael Harris was thrilled that the Royals won the competition with an above the maximum score, but was more satisfied with working together as a team. "We had a great team effort," stated Harris. "We had to use all of our skills that we learned not only from our science and math classes, but other classes such as Leadership and Econ so we could work together effectively as a team to accomplish our goals."

The winning team from San Marcos consisted of: Simone Andreetto, Matthew Arnold, Michael Harris, Mariya Korostil, Allie Torchia, Niko Victoria

The following schools were in attendance. San Marcos - 1st place SBCC/Alta Vista Middle College - 2nd place Santa Barbara - 3rd place Bishop Diego - 4th place Dos Pueblos - 5th place

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 379336	2013-02-27 11:57 AM
DP 5th place??!? What happened? Doesn't DP have that special Engineering Academy?
COMMENT 379353	2013-02-27 12:18 PM
Yes they have the academy! I am sure they are very busy. Glad to hear San Marcos is participating is such events.
COMMENT 379354	2013-02-27 12:19 PM
DPEA is focused on FIRST right now.
COMMENT 379376	2013-02-27 12:45 PM
wow, DP got owned
COMMENT 379381	2013-02-27 12:52 PM
That's the way engineering works. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most unlikely of places. Obviously they had an insight about thermodynamics (which is a tough subject matter) nobody else had.
COMMENT 379385	2013-02-27 12:56 PM
Props to everyone involved - having something like this in our area is very positive.
SCEPTIC	2013-02-27 01:02 PM
Congrats to San Marcos students! We've got some awesome kids in our high schools and it's great to have local high tech companies like Raytheon motivating them. Stirling engines were an excellent choice for this competition.
YPYETR	2013-02-27 01:06 PM
The reason DP got the Raytheon money for the "engineering academy" was because the new (at the time) Raytheon Vision Systems general manager's son was going there. What sucks is that with one hand they were giving all that money to DP, the other hand was laying off 60 people from RVS. I was one of them.
COMMENT 379412	2013-02-27 01:18 PM
They pleged $175,000 over 5 years. $35000 does not contribute to the closing of a whole department. Sorry you were laid off, don't blame it on charitable giving.
SBPOODLELADY	2013-02-27 01:31 PM
I think the point is why was Raytheon donating/pledging funds, when employees are being laid off.
COMMENT 379509	2013-02-27 03:40 PM
San Marcos has always dominated this town. Go Mighty Royals.
COMMENT 379512P	2013-02-27 03:43 PM
Teaching via real world science and engineering is a win for all involved. Kudos to the folks at Raytheon who did this, and to all the kids and teachers (and parents) who participated.
COMMENT 379518	2013-02-27 03:55 PM
Raytheon has always had earmarked dollars for specific tasks. And the logic behind them is not always apparent.
COMMENT 379566	2013-02-27 04:49 PM
Sounds like a tax related transaction.
COMMENT 379576	2013-02-27 05:01 PM
Another reminder that all of our schools have great potential. I have a kid going to San Marcos next year and I'm happy to learn that they competed so well in this. I care a lot more about engineering, writing, and science competitions than sports. Thanks to Raytheon for making this happen (and for inventing the microwave oven, I love that technology).
COMMENT 379593	2013-02-27 05:26 PM
I was there. Dp's kids were way younger than the rest, or so it seemed. They were definitely not the robotics team. Plus, the contest had a certain element of luck involved - whoever was farthest along when time was up was the winner. Nobody actually made an engine that worked. Raytheon is very nice to spend money on schools in the area. Sure they gave money to DP but some of the graduates of the engineering academy will go on to work at Raytheon after college so it's a win-win. Recruiting engineering talent is expensive and not easy. That money is earmarked for charity and would never be spent on salaries anyway. Besides, supporting the schools is the right thing to do.
COMMENT 379753	2013-02-28 07:26 AM
Obvi yugoslavi...SM prevails.
COMMENT 379863	2013-02-28 01:22 PM
A few months ago, my company was looking for an entry level mechanical engineer. We could not find anyone from this area (county wide search). We ended up having a 4th year UCSB student work here part time while he finishes up his ME. The point....there is a demand for engineers in this area and all over this country. There is a dearth of students in technical fields. Events like this give me hope.

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