[EricH]

Originally Posted by Lara Surmak

I'm just wondering what high school student has the skill or knowledge to even compare to a professional engineer? It would be an excellent goal if we were all had the same resources, but that goal is unattainable. I'm sorry to say this, but high school students have almost no chance next to them. They don't have the training, facilities, or experience.

This is what I call a self-fulfilling prophecy. "We don't have a chance" turns into "Why should we even try" turns into "we don't have a chance" again, only worse.

Most of what I, as an ME senior in college, do every day is stuff that a high school student could probably do if given the equations and values to use. What separates a high school student from me is that I've got extra experience, and hopefully better judgement when it comes to engineering. (I also have an understanding of why the equation is the way it is and what it does.)

To say that the "same resources" goal is unattainable is, quite frankly, defeatist. It's reasonably attainable to get to similar resources with some hard work. And in this game, resources don't always matter. Use of the resources you do have does--I could have a full CNC shop that gets used on "bling" (and a budget to match) and I could easily get beaten by a kitbot or kitbot on steroids built by a team with hand tools where the team uses those hand tools very effectively.

High schoolers do indeed have a chance against an engineer in this competition. It's happened like that several times. But it's better if the students and the engineers are working together. That's what many of these top teams have figured out and mastered.