TEAMS is an annual national engineering competition that teams of up to four people from middle school to high school compete in. The competition consists of an essay the teams write in advance as well as a multiple choice test and a design and build challenge the day of.

Each year there is a theme for the competition; This year’s theme is “Engineering & Everyday Devices” according to the TEAMS website. They also have scenario topics for what the multiple choice will be over. This year’s topics are Lightbulbs and Illumination Engineering, The Brain of Electronic Devices: Central Processing Unit, Engineering Better Kitchen Gadgets, Bridges, Engineering with Springs and Flight. Groups are allowed to look into and take notes on the topics beforehand.
Competitions for state awards take place from Feb. 11 to March 3, 2023. Groups host their own competitions these days and do the design and build and the multiple choice test in person on those days. Teams submit the essay part of the competition beforehand. The top 50 high school teams and the top 25 middle school teams in the nation are then invited to the national conference to compete to be the Best-in-Nation. The national competition is just like the state competitions minus the essay part.

Our school’s TEAMS club is called JETS or TSA or TEAMS. The club’s coaches are Dominic Audia and Keith Kraeplin. The JETS club received a $6,450 grant from Alpha on Nov. 9. Audia applied for the grant this past June. This grant will be used for competitions, uniforms, food and transportation for both state and national-level competitions. They also have funding from PTSO, West High Student Senate and ICCSD Foundation. The last day to register a team for the competition is Jan 27, 2023.