MCPS has shared that a team from Hallie Wells Middle School, under the guidance of science teacher Dustin Deem and with support from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, has won the Maryland MESA State Championship. This achievement has earned them a place in the upcoming MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition on June 23.
The Hallie Wells Middle School team, which consists of team members Summit, Nick (6th grade), Prithvi (7th grade), Pranav (7th grade), and Rian (8th grade), is preparing for their participation in the national competition, where they will showcase their innovative project and represent their school.
The team designed a robot named Sir Cleans-a-Lot, which is an amphibious, solar-powered hovercraft aimed at fighting pollution on both land and water. The robot employs ultrasonic sensors to detect nearby trash and autonomously collects it into a reusable garbage sack. Sir Cleans-a-Lot is built primarily from recycled materials and runs on renewable energy, drawing inspiration from Baltimore’s Trash Wheel family.
Dustin Deem noted, “The students are definitely a mix of excited, proud and a little nervous — which is totally expected at this level of competition. For many of them, this is the first time presenting a STEM project beyond our school community, so it’s a big deal.”