Uni students take home Exploravision victory

On March 1, two Exploravision teams at Uni learned of their victories: one in the 7-9 age division, and one in the 10-12 division.

While Uni has often won in Exploravision, the success in multiple age divisions is a first.

“I think it works very well in terms of what we like to do at Uni, which is be creative,” said biology teacher David Stone.

Exploravision has a long history at Uni. Biology teacher David Stone has mentored student teams in the 10-12 division for years, winning the regional competition ten times.

But the 7-9 division victory is a first, since subbies and freshman have competed infrequently in the past. But subbies are now required to compete, as Exploravision forms a key part of the science curriculum.

“It rounds out the first semester […] it’s a crowning piece on how to do scientific investigation,” said subbie science teacher Cynthia Smyzer.

The winning subbie team consisted of Benjamin Chang, Nate Jones, Shoorsen Gandhi, and Ryan Wang. For their project, titled NewFerro Roads, the students explored self-repairing road technology.

The results came as a surprise. “We’d actually forgotten about the competition, but after the initial shock we were really excited for the regional,” said Gandhi.

Sophomores May Yang and Maher Adoni formed the upper division team. They designed a customizable prosthetic spine, hip, and knee bone replacement system called HydroSuppORT.

“It was a really fun experience,” said Adoni. “We learned a lot.”

After winning regionals, teams must prepare for the national competition by creating a video to accompany their project. The national winner receives a fully-funded trip to Washington, DC.

On April 25, the subbie team learned they had advanced to the national competition. While the sophomore team did not, they still enjoyed the experience.

“Winning is not a big deal,” Stone said. “It’s about groups being able to work together.”