Team K-Five, a group of students from Kennedy High School in Waterbury, CT, has won the state Real World Design Challenge (RWDC)! Pictured here from left to right are teacher Ken Ludwig, Jordan DeAngelis, William Betances, Lt. Gov. Fidele, Klejton Dinkollari, Lefter Dinkollari, and Michael Matic. These Kennedy students will travel to Washington, DC, to compete at the RWDC National Challenge, March 20–22, 2009. As part of their award, the U.S. Department of Energy will host this event and pay all trip expenses for Team K-Five and nine other winning state teams from across the continental US and Hawaii.
Not only will Kennedy High School represent our state, but a team of CCC Digital Media and Movie Making (DM3) students will film a documentary about Team K-Five, beginning with the issue of the challenge in October and ending with the national competition in March. DM3 students have their own challenge to create films that contain a “green theme” for the CT Student Film Festival (part of the CT Student Innovation Expo, May 8–9), so filming a project about fuel efficiency in aviation, the 2009 RWDC challenge, is a perfect match.
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National Center for Aerospace Leadership Mentors RWDC Student Teams
01 /21/ 2009
The State of Connecticut is proud to be one of the pilot states for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Real World Design Challenge (RWDC). This challenge provides high school students with the opportunity to work on real-world engineering challenges in a team environment. The 2009 challenge focuses on aeronautics and energy usage. The teams are using engineering software programs to design and test the performance of a new fuel-efficient wing for an aircraft.
On January 9, 2009, the RWDC Teams were hosted at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) by the National Center for Aerospace Leadership (NCAL). NCAL Director Robert Mansfield greeted students and discussed the fun in applying engineering skills to a real-world problem. Team mentors Nasir Mannon and Cristina Cook, both NCAL Manufacturing Software Application Engineers, then gave guidance and suggestions to the students as they prepare for the State Finals, which will be held from 3–5 PM, Feb. 10, 2009, at the CCAT Innovation Center. The winning CT team will go to Washington, DC, March 20–22, all expenses paid.
Connecticut has two teams vying for a chance to represent the state at the RWDC National Finals. Team K-Five represents Kennedy HS in Waterbury and is coached by Ken Ludwig. Student team members are Klejton Dinkollari, Lefter Dinkollari, Michael Matic, William Betances, and Jordan DeAngelis. Team Falcon is from Xavier HS in Middletown and is coached by Michael Humphreys. Student team members are Matthew Morrone, Bruce Funteral, Michael Leon, Austin Kelly, Greg Witz, Christopher Muckle, and David Mallick.
