Dear Teachers,

We are excited you are considering having your students participate in the 2012 Tulsa Engineering Challenge (TECh) on Friday, April 13^th at Tulsa Tech Riverside Campus.  It is a fun hands-on event for grades 4 – 12.  There are 11 events that require pre-preparation.  There are an additional three (3) events that are “walk-in” – your students can decide that day to participate.

Typically teachers register teams for one event to several.  They select events that compliment their curriculum and ones that they think their students would have fun doing. Several teachers give their students options and encourage the student to work on their own outside of class. Others do it as part of their class and have run-offs prior to TECH.

Some teachers register for no events and bring their students to observe.  In addition to watching the judging of the events, they participate in the walk-up activities and visit the exhibitors.

Exhibitors in the past have varied from colleges that offer engineering degrees to schools that offer welding training as well as companies that design, create and build.  We also have FIRST Robotics and Lego League displays.

The events that require pre-registration are:   Deadline for registration of # of teams is March 31, 2012

• Chemical Switch
• Digital Poster – We now have a judge for this event. Updated 3/30/2012
• Electric Motor
• Extreme Engineering Challenge
• Paper Airplane Distance
• Paper Airplane Duration
• Ping-Pong Ball Launcher
• Robot
• Rubber Band Powered Vehicle
• Toothpick Bridge
• Wacky Wonder Works

Walk-in events are:

• Aluminum Boats
• Mini Math
• Academic Olympiad

Activities students can observe while wandering around:

• Oil Well Fishing or something similar related to Petroleum Engineering
• Chemistry / Physics Show
• Exhibitor tables

Below is a table of the # of teams that you can register. Divisions are as follows:Lower Division is Grades 4^th – 6^th; Middle Division is Grades 7^th – 8^th; and Upper Division is Grades 9^th – 12^th.

We ask that one teacher at your school site register all the classes that participate.   Prizes are given to the students (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place) as well as to the teacher’s class.

INDIVIDUAL OR TEAM EVENTS:

TECh is intended to help you give a fun exciting experience to your students that demonstrate that engineering is creative, collaborative, flexible and lucrative.  Did I mention that cash awards up to $100 are given?

Please contact Meg Broge with any questions you have at  mbroge@vtresources.com or call 918-492-8740