2018 EngineerGirl Essay Contest Winners

Communities, like people, need a few basic things to function properly: to provide access to the things people need to survive, to provide people with opportunities to make a living, and to help protect the long-term health and safety of residents. The different systems of structures, machines, tools, people, and processes that provide these things are a community's infrastructure. Every part of a community's infrastructure — from 9-1-1 emergency dispatch systems to wastewater treatment facilities to phone networks to parks and playgrounds — relies on some form of engineering. (Read the full Contest Guidelines)

Elementary School (Grades 3-5)

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Aditi Gokhale

Grade 3 - J. Ackerman Coles Elementary School (Scotch Plains, NJ)

Piezo-Powered Self-Healing Roads


First Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Cailyn Kim

Grade 5 - Hunnewell Elementary School (Wellesley, MA, United States)

Time is Ticking


Second Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Sarah Rash

Grade 4 - Ridgeview Elementary School (St. Louis Park, MN, United States)

Clearing the Ice Rinks


Third Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Betty Kate Peshette

Grade 4 - Sherwood Forest Elementary (Redmond, WA, United States)

Making Redmond's Power System Safer and More Reliable


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Lights on Community Sports Fields by Megan U.
Grade 4 - Puesta del Sol Elementary School (Bellevue, WA, United States)

More drains for more games! by Reid Baum
Grade 4 - Puesta del Sol Elementary School (Bellevue, WA, United States)

Waste Management: Finxing its Flaw by Madison Cox
Grade 5 - Green Pines Elementary (Wildwood, MO, United States)

Engineering a Safe Way to School by Hayden Toole
Grade 4 - Piney Branch Elementary School (Takoma Park, MD, United States)

Engineer Girl 2018 by Lola FBF
Grade 5 - P.S.290q, Geraldine Ferraro Campus (Woodside, NY, United States)

Swing, Slide, Spin by Melanie
Grade 5 - Dorothy Eisenberg Elementary School (United States)

Super Sensational Solar Solutions: Ideas for Parks by Acadia U.<
Grade 4 - Myron J. Francis Elementary School (Rumford, RI, United States)

Where Should I Put My Waste? by Lila Boutin
Grade 4 - Davis School for Independent Study (Davis, CA, United States)

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Anvitha Mahankali

Grade 7 - Stoller Middle School (Portland, OR, United States)

“BioPro” -- Bioswale Maintenance Made Easier


First Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Virginia Callen

Grade 7 - Harpeth Hall (Nashville, TN, United States)

Smarter Bridges in Music City


Second Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Nicholas Venezia

Grade 6 - IS 98 Bay Academy (Brooklyn, NY, United States)

Green Energy


Third Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Kylie Masser

Grade 8 - Elizabethtown Middle School (Elizabethtown, PA, United States)

The Solution to Ambulance Delays


Honorable Mention

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Anisha Parsan

Grade 7 - Fort Settlement Middle School (Sugar Land, TX, United States)

The Case for Human Biosolids – An Economical, High Yield Fertilizer


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Presentation to District 10 City Council on Saving Students through STEM by F. De Soriano
Grade 6-8 - Homeschool (Bronx, NY, United States)

A Solution to Microplastic Pollution by Elisabeth Buchanan
Grade 8 - Sumner Middle School (Sumner, WA, United States)

The Problem of Potholes in Our Community by E.R. Smith
Grade 7 - Ottawa Hills Junior High (Toledo, OH, United States)

The Solution for Electrical Outages
Grade 7 - Harpeth Hall (Franklin, TN, United States)

How to Fix the Nashville Flow by Olivia Majors
Grade 7 - Harpeth Hall (Nashville, TN, United States)

The Future of Student Safety by Mackenzie Sloan
Grade 7 - Glacier Creek Middle School (Middleton, WI, United States)

Let Me Pass! I'm Late to School! by Rohan Satapathy
Grade 7 - John C Dunham STEM Partnership School (Naperville, IL, United States)

The Power of Recycling by Anusha Puri
Grade 7 - Beechwood Elementary School (Fullerton, CA, United States)

High School (Grades 9-12)

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Aditi Misra

Grade 10 - St. Joseph Secondary School (Mississauga, ON, Canada)

Forward with Flywheels- The Energy Storage of the Future


First Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Roshini Balan

Grade 10 - Holton-Arms School (United States)

Designing Virginia’s Waste Water Treatment Infrastructure for Greater Resilience


Second Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Austin Tran

Grade 9 - Bishop Kenny High School (Jacksonville, FL, United States)

Floating Halophytes


Third Place

Engineering for Your Community contest winner

Lasya Balachandran

Grade 9 - High Technology High School (Morgonville, NJ, United States)

Safeguarding Our Energy Future with the M2-grid


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Infractions from Energy Extractions by Nicole Burns
Grade 11 - Garfield High School (Seattle, WA, United States)

Traffic Management Made Smarter by Sreenidhi Sankararaman
Grade 9 - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Herndon, VA, United States)

Prevent Another 3/30! : A Solution for Bridge Failure by Ananya Ganesh
Grade 10 - The Westminster Schools (Sandy Springs, GA, United States)

Los Angeles City Council: Air Pollution Public Safety by Winnie Wang
Grade 9 - Granada Hills Charter High School (Chatworth, CA, United States)

Motion Activated Street Lights by Grant Reidy
Grade 9 - Bishop Kenny High School (Jacksonville, FL, United States)

Ensuring Water Security: A New Type of Water Main by Katelyn Kunert
Grade 12 - South River HS (Davidsonville, MD, United States)

Energy-Generating Stationary Bikes in Jacksonville by Lily England
Grade 9 - Bishop Kenny High School (Saint Johns, FL, United States)

Engineering our Earthquakes by Hattie Compton-Moen
Grade 10 - St Margaret's College (Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand)