The Bishop Shanahan STEM team: Alyssa Montalvo, Riley McLaughlin, Nicholas McLaughlin, Noah Brady, Brendan Pappas, Michael Sisti, Sergio Ulluoa, and Liam Lavin.
DOWNINGTOWN — For the third consecutive year, students from Bishop Shanahan High School in Downingtown won the PA Governor’s STEM Regional Competition held at the Chester County Intermediate Unit-Brandywine Campus. This annual STEM competition challenges teams to answer needs of Pennsylvanians, while also exploring STEM careers and developing communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity skills. This year’s theme is “Improving Pennsylvania Through STEM.” The Shanahan team winning device will now advance to the State Championship in Harrisburg.
The BSHS team developed ELIAS (Emergency Location Indexing Application System), a device that will decrease the response time for emergency personal to locate vulnerable individuals during emergencies. Response time is critical in countless situations including fires, abductions, natural disasters, active shooters, and acts of terrorism.
The official presentation team: Noah Brady, Nicholas McLaughlin, Riley McLaughlin, Brendan Pappas, and Sergio Ulloa, unveiled ELIAS during the competition against other excellent Chester County high schools on February 5th. The presentation team received vital support from auxiliary members: Liam Lavin, Alyssa Montalvo, and Michael Sisti, and faculty advisor John P. Janasik, PhD.
The BSHS team developed the project concept and prototype with the support of community partners. CTDI (Communications Test Design Inc.), a global engineering company, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Pennsylvania, and Matthew Lash, Esq., a constitutional attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, assisted the team during their research and project development. Such partnerships enabled the students to witness first-hand what skills are necessary to be employable and successful in PA.
The BSHS team will continue developing ELIAS in preparation of the State Championship in May. In the meantime, BSHS is preparing a robust academic program, STEM Pathways. This program will provide opportunities for more students to participate in a specialized learning experience that includes collaborative research, workshops, competitions, mentoring, and college counseling all focused in STEM. BSHS STEM Pathways will launch in fall of 2020.
