Top Prize at Offshore Technology Challenge Awarded to Taft Oil Technology Academy Students

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Wednesday, a team of eight students from Taft Oil Technology Academy emerged victorious from the first annual High School Offshore and Technology Stars Challenge, which was co-hosted by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI), Taft College and CSU Bakersfield at Kern Raceway.

Mark Fesmire, BSEE’s Pacific and Alaska Regions Director, welcomed the students to the Tech Challenge with a strong message of encouragement for the young competitors. “Experts have projected that there will be a workforce need of one million additional science, math and engineering graduates by 2022,” said Fesmire. “This is very exciting for you as you get ready to graduate – the U.S. needs you to help meet the needs of our nation.”

During the challenge, the students collaborated within their teams to design and build an energy harvesting circuit based on NASA-developed piezoelectric technology, which generates an electrical charge when it vibrates or bends. The circuits enabled the teams to charge battery packs for remote-control cars, which they then drove on a course on Kern Raceway, accumulating points for course completion and the distance their cars drove in a ten minute period. 

Team Constellation’s performance in several challenges won them the championship. They successfully drove their car for the entire ten minutes, racking up the fewest number of deductions for mistakes of any team. They defeated 14 other teams to claim the $2,500 grand prize, as well as a $1,500 teaching grant for their school.

“Our event today is meant to inspire students to learn and motivate many of them to pursue STEM careers,” said Fesmire.  This year, BSEE and OESI expanded the Tech Challenge to include Baton Rouge, La. and Bakersfield, Calif., and plan to add other cities including Anchorage, in the years to come.