RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP — Students from Maplewood High School have done it again, with the junior varsity team placing fourth out of 23 schools at the national level in the third division during the 24th Annual Junior Engineering Technical Society competition.

“It’s incredible to have our students place fourth two years in a row,” said Maplewood physics teacher Mark Rose. “It’s such a challenging test and they did great!”

Rose, who is the school advisor for both the varsity and junior varsity teams, said only one member of the team, Ed Ryznar, a junior, was a carryover from last year’s team. The rest of the students on the junior varsity team were new to the competition.

The academic competition, sponsored by the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit No. 5, actually began in February. In all, 22 high school teams competed from the region, including schools from Crawford, Erie and Warren counties.

The JETS competition began February 26 with a one-day, two-part exam held in McLane Church in Edinboro. The theme for the 2008 competition was “Behind the Scenes: Engineering Athletic Events.”

According to JETS competition guidelines, the engineering exam combines skills from calculus, physics and mathematics, and answers the “age-old question, ‘when will I ever use this’ by showing how math and science applications affect our everyday lives.”

To prepare for the exams, students work together as a team and often refer to prior years’ exams to help guide them in the study process.

Part one of the test takes place in the morning and determines the local and state rankings. The second half of the examination is administered in the afternoon and that is the part of the test that is submitted for the national competition.

Following the 2008 state rankings, the junior varsity team from Maplewood ranked second. Three additional Crawford County schools competed at the national level including Cambridge Springs varsity team (22nd), Conneaut Lake varsity team (40th), and Titusville junior varsity (10th).

According to Rose, the students never physically traveled beyond McLane Church in Edinboro. Only the students’ open-ended responses to the questions posed to them back in February were sent onward to be ranked.

Rose said he and chemistry teacher Dan Fencer only met face-to-face with the two teams from Maplewood a few times. And because the majority of the students on the junior varsity team had never competed in a similar academic event, they really didn’t know what to expect.

“Using some of the old tests and answer keys, Dan Fencer and I picked out a few examples just to give them the information so that they could see how it could be applied,” he said. “I gave them large quantities of information and then it was up to them to see how much of it they could apply it using their math skills and science skills — it’s nothing that they would ever see in a classroom!”

With regards to the 2009 competition, Rose said he expects that all of the Maplewood students who comprised the 2008 teams plan on competing for a place next year.

“They’re all excellent students, and not just academically,” he said.