Foxcroft teams take second and third in the high school division, while The Hill School captures second in the middle school division

Madera School and Immanuel Christian School each claimed the top prize in their respective high school and middle school divisions February 22 during the ninth annual Foxcroft School STEM Challenge.

Designed for middle and high school students, the competition saw 160 girls from 21 schools throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC, using their knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and math to participate in challenges revolving around this year's theme, "Galaxy Trek," to restore failing systems onboard a space station and preserve the astronauts' scientific endeavors.

The event was highlighted by a visit from Dr. Sandra H. "Sandy" Magnus, former astronaut, and current Deputy Director for Engineering within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering serving as DoD's Chief Engineer for Advanced Capabilities. Magnus drew from her extensive career and experience living on the International Space Station to speak about the importance of girls in STEM, extending this piece of advice to the young girls present. "If you remember nothing else today, remember this — if you have a dream and you find that passionate thing that fires you up and you're enthusiastic about it, you owe it to yourself to go for it."

The winning Majestic Moons team from Madeira, comprised of Chi Hoang, Zelda Truong, Sophie Wang, and Caroline Cassidy, claimed the high school trophy, designed and fabricated by Foxcroft STEM students using the tools of Foxcroft's Innovation Lab. The Madeira team also won one of the five individual challenges.

Second place in the high school division went to Foxcroft's Nifty Nebulae team (senior Tam Le, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; juniors Scarlett Dong, Beijing, China; and Eunice Yang, Dongguan, China; and sophomore Finy Zhu, Beijing, China), while the Snazzy Supernovas (junior Jennifer Cramer, Herndon, VA; sophomore Elise Lanahan, Atlantis, FL; and freshmen Rebecca Cramer, Herndon, VA, and Emily Wang, Beijing, China) took third. Foxcroft School teams also won four of the five individual challenges.

In the middle school division, a team from Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, VA, also named the Majestic Moons (Eva Portillo, Hannah Leong, Grace Nguyen, Naomi Templeton) took home the team title, in addition to winning one of the five individual challenges. The Hill School's Snazzy Supernovas (Violet Wright, Natalie Peters, and Zoe Korff) placed second, in addition to winning two of the individual challenges. Third place went to the Venus Voyagers (Caroline Funk, Nora Hayden, Eliza Jaffe, Ellie Schundler) from Village School in Charlottesville, VA. Teams from Harmony Middle School (Hamilton, VA) and Norwood School (Bethesda, MD) also won individual challenges.

Event sponsor Stryker Corporation runs one of the challenges each year, and this year brought one of their largest groups of female engineers (15) to not only participate in the event but also share their experiences and answer questions from the young competitors during a career panel.

Energy and enthusiasm filled Foxcroft's Athletic/Student Center and Schoolhouse Science Labs as the girls, in teams of three or four, took on five different challenges. In biology, they used bags of cereal to simulate the disuse osteoporosis experienced by astronauts in microgravity. In the chemistry lab, they combined ingredients to recreate a "cat food" formula that could be given to the feline test subjects onboard the space station. In the coding event, they navigated the terminal to locate access codes, and they used Sphero robots in the physics event to simulate the reset sequence needed to activate a backup server. The Stryker team's engineering challenge involved fixing a communication device, using the answers to math and science problems to identify the resistor that would go into a circuit and flash a code corresponding to a message (in this case, "HELP"). In between the challenges, students used Kindle Fires supplied by Foxcroft to answer questions about space and about the teams themselves, encouraging interaction with their fellow competitors.

The annual competition showcases Foxcroft's innovative and appealing focus on the STEM fields. It allows girls to develop collaborative skills working with others and gain confidence in fields so often dominated by boys.