
XFYD is pleased to announce the conclusion of our first STEM Tournament!
On August 16th, over 20 ambitious competitors spent the afternoon competing in several rounds of events that tested their skills in Engineering, General Science Knowledge, Physics, and Scientific Thinking over four competitive rounds that pushed participants to their limits!
Students Constructed Towers from Spaghetti and Marshmallows, competing to build the strongest, sturdiest, and tallest tower in an amount of limited time. Ultimately, students tested their application of geometry in engineering to construct a tower that was both tall and resilient to external forces. Building the tallest tower came down to a battle of ingenuity, scientific design, meticulous precision, and extreme skill. Ultimately, the tallest tower was decided by a hair.
Participants Tackled a difficult written STEM Test, testing general science knowledge at a middle-school level in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Ecology, and more. The test was written and conducted by accomplished Science Olympiad team members and XFYD STEM Teachers, so the test pushed competitors to the limits of their scientific knowledge. Ultimately, students impressed all our XFYD Test Graders with the amount of scientific knowledge they knew and were able to bring to this competition.
Participants designed, tested, and raced a balloon-powered car. This event tested students’ creativity and resourcefulness, forcing them to make use of their limited and varied resources, such as bottle caps, playing cards, and sticks, to design a working car powered by a difference in air pressure. Students had to, through trial and error, optimize their car for distance and speed and troubleshoot errors in their car’s design, all while taking care to put their limited materials to good use.
In the last event, competitors estimated volumes and scientific measurements in three rounds of Metric Olympics. This event gave students a numeric intuition for mass, volume, and distance, all essential scientific measurements. Students had to rely on their spatial reasoning to extrapolate given measurements and estimate scientific measurements. Our test proctors were all extremely impressed by the competence of the competitors’ data reasoning and analysis!




During the break times between rounds, all competitors and parents were able to enjoy a generous amount of snacks and refreshments!

Ultimately, the competition came down to the wire. All students gave their best and came away from the tournament having gained tremendous STEM skills in hands-on activities and events, preparing students with the experience, intuition, and hands-on competence necessary to succeed in science-related fields in High School and beyond.
We must congratulate David Kang (3rd Place), Akarsh Maheshwari (2nd Place), and Kallyn Bao (1st Place) for their sportsmanship, skill, and dedication to scientific learning as the winners of our first XFYD STEM Tournament!

This tournament marks a fantastic start to XFYD’s STEM Division’s Fall Program. Since the tournament, XFYD has followed up with a Chemistry Class and a Physics Class, with a Biology, Zoology, and Engineering class soon to come. Both classes were taught by experienced Whitney High School Lab Assistants and Science Olympiad competitors, who were able to fully impart their experiences and knowledge to their students. Both classes heavily focus on hands-on lab activities and demonstrates, giving students direct experience with the wonderful world of Science!