Students went to Uniontown at the PennDOT district office on March 12 to compete in the PennDOT Innovations Challenge. Twenty-six teams entered the contest from Washington, Greene, Fayette, and Westmoreland counties, and all four of Norwin’s teams made the finals.
The PennDOT Innovations Challenge is a state competition for high school students that challenges them to create solutions to real-world transportation issues. Regional winners are selected by PennDOT’s Engineering Districts, and those winners move on to a statewide competition where an overall winner is selected.
Senior students heard about this opportunity through AP Statistics classes taught by Mr. Thomas Harskowitch, and many students seized the opportunity by thoroughly examining their topic and crafting a specific project.
“Each team was congratulated for their presentation skills,” Harskowitch said. “I was amazed with the well roundedness of each of the project ideas.”
The teams were Troy Horvath and Noah Wilson with the topic of Community Cohesion; Andrew Brown, Evelyn Moore, Gabrielle Schoemer, and David Shepherd with the topic of Community Connecting Tunnel; Mary Mahoney, Taylor Miller and Abigail Zula with the topic of Highway Cap; and Olivia Ivory and Sydney Rose with the topic of Fixing North Huntingdon – Innovative Bake Lanes.
All teams placed in the finals at the competition. The team of Horvath and Wilson won the District Competition and will head to Harrisburg on May 1 for the state finals. There, the final winner of the competition will be chosen.
“Out of around 40 submissions, we ended up being selected to go to the PennDOT headquarters,” Wilson said. “We took the time and explored different options and possibilities, and we tried to be personable during our presentation.”
Throughout the competition and research process, students used many skills to create and present their projects at the PennDOT Innovations Challenge. Using problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration, students were able to handle many topics, including technology, science, physical education, engineering, mathematics, statistics, economics, and language arts. Students learned about other topics as well, broadening their knowledge and allowing them to develop an understanding of the world around them.
“Honestly, I gained an incredible amount of knowledge of PennDot in general, but also engineering,” senior Sydney Rose said. “I learned about all the ways that PennDot affects our transportation, roads, and even as little as signs. They create and improve everything that deals with transportation. Having no previous interest in engineering, I had no idea how much engineers affect our day-to-day lives.”
