Regional MESA Day Overview

Overview:

The Northern California Region will host regional MESA Day 2021 virtually with the following middle school and high school level competitions:

• MESA NEDC Designing for Equity (Both Levels)
• Scratch It Up! (Middle School) 
• Coding Solutions (High School) 
• Stick Together  (Middle School) 
• Civil Structure (High School) 
• MESA Machine (Both Levels)
• MESA Think Tank (Both Levels)
• MESA Math Escape Challenge (Both Levels) 

Centers in Region:

• Cal State East Bay 
• University of the Pacific 
• UC Davis 
• San Jose State University 
• UC San Francisco 
• Ukiah 
• RISE 

Format:

The Northern Regional MESA Day 2021 will be hosted VIRTUALLY.  

Virtual Northern Regional MESA Day will be on Saturday, April 17 for the following competitions:

• NEDC Design For Equity-Technical Interview 
• Coding Solutions
• Bridges
• MESA Math Escape Challenge

Competition Addendums

MESA NEDC Designing for Equity 

• NEDC Technical Interview: Live Competition
• Deadline to submit all other components is April 2, 2021

 Scratch It Up! 

• Deadline to submit Game by April 2, 2021

 Coding Solutions 

• Live Competition

Stick Together & Civil Structure

Deadlines: 

• Students must turn in their Bridges to their Centers by Friday, April 9th
• Janiene (East Bay) will coordinate with Centers to collect Bridges between April 12-14th 2021 

MESA Machine

• Deadline to submit presentation/rules: April 2, 2021

MESA Think Tank

TBD

MESA Math Escape Challenge

TBD

Overview:

The LA Metro Region will host regional MESA Day 2021 virtually with the following middle school and high school level competitions:

• Bridges (Stick Together and Civil Structure)
• Computer Science (Scratch It Up! and Coding Solutions)
• MESA Machine (middle school and high school)
• MESA Think Tank (middle school and high school)
• MESA NEDC Designing for Equity (middle school and high school)

Centers in Region:

• Cal State LA
• CSULB
• UCLA 
• USC

Format:

The LA Metro Regional MESA Day 2021 will be hosted VIRTUALLY.  All competition entries MUST be submitted no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m., with the exception of Stick Together and Civil Structures with a submission deadline of Friday, April 2 at 4:00 p.m. Please see “Addendums to Competitions – LA Metro Region” for modifications to each competition.

Virtual LA Metro Regional MESA Day will be on Saturday, April 10 for the following competitions:

• Bridges (Stick Together and Civil Structure): live-streaming of bridge testing
• MESA Think Tank: virtual live Q&A session for each participating team
• MESA NEDC Designing for Equity: virtual live sessions for pitch and technical interview for each participating team

There will be NO day of activities for MESA Machine and Computer Science (Scratch It Up! / Coding Solutions).

Regional winners will be announced at the virtual LA Metro Region MESA Day 2021 Celebration on Friday, April 16 from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. for all competitions, with the exception of MESA NEDC Designing for Equity.

Competition Addendums

Teams MUST register and submit projects, videos, etc. as specified for each of the following competitions.

Due to MESA Day 2021 being virtual, there will be NO ARBITRATION. All judging decisions will be final.

Bridges (Stick Together and Civil Structures)

• Each qualifying team MUST submit (i.e., turn in) bridge no later than Friday, April 2 at 4:00 p.m. at the designated drop off location identified by your local MESA Center. Please contact your local MESA Center (i.e., Cal State LA, CSULB, UCLA, or USC) for the instructions.
• In addition, each qualifying team MUST register no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.
• Qualifying teams will be notified by email regarding the specification check of their bridge prior to testing on April 10. 
• Participating teams and others may view the live stream of the bridge testing on the specified link between 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 10. Each team will be sent the live stream link.

Computer Science

• Scratch – Middle School Level
• Each qualifying team MUST register and submit the Scratch file no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.
• Coding Solutions – High School Level
• Each qualifying team must have completed at least 60% of the MESA Day Python Course assignments on the specified LA Metro Region CodeHS course (Links to an external site.) (as specified in the rules) by Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m.
• Each qualifying team MUST register no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.
• Each qualifying team will be sent the Regional MESA Day LA Metro Region CodeHS challenges link on Monday, April 5. Teams MUST complete the challenges in one single 60-minute block no later than Wednesday, April 7 at 11:59 p.m. Thus, the window to complete the Regional MESA Day CodeHS challenges will be from April 5 and April 7.

MESA Machine (added on 2/8/2021)

Each qualifying team MUST register and submit video no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.

The following General Rules are eliminated:

• General Rule 1: NO labeling required
• General Rule 3: NO machine size restrictions
• General Rule 10: elimination of digital media for arbitration purposes
  

Judging procedures (on Page 3 of the rules) are replaced with the following:

• Each qualifying team MUST submit a video showing and narrating each sequential and dependent action of The MESA Machine and the features of the wind-powered vehicle (including measurement of all lengths and widths) AND the operation of the machine from beginning to end with the propelling of the wind-powered vehicle, including the measurement of the distance traveled. Submitted videos with narration should not exceed 3 minutes in length; videos can be edited.
• Submitted videos must be viewable, audible and accessible to judges. Videos that cannot be accessed will not be judged and scored. Regarding quality, videos must be clear enough to be able to see and audible to hear the following:
• The machine (including the parts and each action);
• The wind-powered vehicle (including the parts, features, and measurements in cm or inches);
• The setup of the wind-powered vehicle 25 cm / 9.84 or 9 7/8  inches from the machine,
• The distance traveled by the wind-powered vehicle; include the measurement in cm or inches of the distance – distance (i.e., how far) for middle school and accuracy (i.e., how close to target) for high school; please see “Competition Area Specifications” on Page 5 of the rules; teams are NOT required to outline the specified zones with blue painter’s tape; and 
• Time from the initiation of the machine to the start of the last action that provides wind to propel the vehicle.

• Measure the distance traveled by the wind-powered vehicle from the midpoint of the front axle of the vehicle in the “Start” position to the final resting position of the midpoint of the front axle of the vehicle (i.e., midpoint to midpoint).
• While the vehicle is in the “Start” position, place a sticker on the ground with a “dot” or other “dot” identification under the midpoint of the front axle.
• Machines and wind-powered vehicles that cannot be clearly seen or audible will NOT be judged and scored.
• Tiebreaker: in the event of ties among Final Team Scores, teams will be evaluated based on the following stages:
• Stage 1: number of working actions
• Stage 2: total number of actions
• Stage 3: distance traveled by the wind-powered vehicle
• Stage 4: time from the initiation of machine to the start of the last action that provides wind to propel the vehicle

MESA Think Tank

• Each qualifying team MUST register and submit a digital copy of rules and video no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.
• Each qualifying team MUST participate in a virtual live 5-minute Q&A session on Saturday, April 10 during the assigned time slot between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. to answer questions from judges. Each team will be sent the assigned time slot and virtual meeting link. If teams do not show up for the assigned time slot, judges will deduct 20 percent from the total team score.
• Qualifying teams will be required to perform a tech check with judges between April 5 and April 9. More information will be provided after teams register.
• Q&A sessions are closed to the public; only team members and judges are allowed in these sessions.

MESA NEDC Designing for Equity

• Each qualifying team MUST register and submit a digital copy of the design brief and poster no later than Saturday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. via the specified registration link.
• Poster MUST be a digital copy in PDF format with minimum size of 24 inches by 36 inches and maximum size of 36 inches and 48 inches.
• Each qualifying team MUST participate in virtual live presentations on Saturday, April 10 during the assigned time slots between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Each team will be sent the assigned time slots and virtual meeting links.
• Each qualifying team will participate in the Technical Presentation and Interview and in the Prototype Pitch components of the NEDC during the assigned time slots.
• The Technical Presentation and Interview will be limited to a maximum of 10 minutes, with a limit of up to 6 minutes to deliver the technical presentation and demonstrate the prototype (presentation time). The remaining time will be used for the technical interview (interview time) with the panel of judges.
• The Prototype Pitch time limitation will not change. Teams will have 5 to 7 minutes to present. After +2 minutes (a total of 9 minutes), judges will stop the presentation.
• Team results will be announced at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 10. Participating teams will be invited to view team results via the specified virtual meeting link.
• Qualifying teams will be required to perform a tech check with judges between March 1 and March 5. More information will be provided after teams register.