TSA TEAMS is a team-based engineering competition with four components: essay, multiple choice test, mathematical modeling exercise, and building competition.  The actual competition takes place in February.  PR students are frequently quite successful in this competition and therefore, invited to nationals over the summer.

This years theme is 

"Engineering a Smarter World".

Please note that the school pays per team for this event, so please do not register if you don't plan to participate.

Please see Dr. Poole to register your 4-6 person team. 

It's never too early to plan your summer learning events!!!

Registration for Duquesne Pharmacy Exploration Day is already open!

In this one-day free event, you will learn all about the exciting field of pharmacy careers!

See link below for more information or to register. 

Passionate about helping to cure cancer?

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society hosts a philanthropic leadership development program called Student Visionaries of the Year.  As a Student Visionary you would work to fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through the creation of a team that you lead, partnered with mentors, to develop and execute an action plan. You will also receive a website and coaching!  

Please see https://www.llsstudentvisionaries.org/ for more information or to apply. 

• Our 2026-2027 challenge will be released on Monday, November 2nd. Teams will be given the specific build challenge via email on the morning of 11/2 to begin their builds.

• Teams will have 6 weeks to work on building their solution to the challenge in Minecraft Education asynchronously. Teachers/coaches will have full autonomy on how to decide to schedule their team's build time. Before/during/after school build times can be decided by the individual teams and schools.

• Teams are comprised of 2-5 students. We do not allow solo builders, as one of the major components of this challenge involves teamwork and collaboration.

• Teams can enter 1 of 3 different grade level categories. If your district operates with grade levels falling into different categories than what is listed below, please pick the one that seems to fit best: Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12)

• Teams must submit a screen recording/video of their world via Google Form for judging by Friday, December 11th.

• Recordings should be 90 seconds to 5 minutes in length. Please do not exceed 5 minutes.

• Team submissions will be judged with a standard rubric (released with the challenge on 11/2) to determine a winner at each grade level across the 8 PSEL regions.

• Winning teams will be invited to participate in a live build competition on Wednesday, January 13th which will be hosted online so that teams compete from their home school/district chosen location. 

• Teams will be given a new challenge on the morning of 1/13. Teams will have 2 hours to build their solution, and then present their finished product via Zoom. These projects will be judged live against the other 7 teams in their grade level group.

Please see Dr. Poole to register your team. 

Do you have a creative idea for how STEM can improve our community?

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition asks students to consider how Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math (STEM) can be used to create change in their communities.  Student groups compete for up to $100,000 in grant money for their school and the opportunity to work with Samsung employees to develop their ideas.

The application and project proposal must be submitted by November 23, 2026.

Please see Dr. Poole for more information. 

High School Day is a great opportunity for high school students to explore various fields in STEM. Students will participate in three workshops of their choice, two core engineering workshops and one special topic workshop. These workshops begin with an overview of the discipline followed by a hands-on activity. The workshops will be delivered by renowned CMU faculty and some amazing PhD candidates!

Every year, students have been invited to participate in core engineering workshops including:

• Chemical Engineering

• Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Materials Science and Engineering

• Biomedical Engineering

• Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Engineering and Public Policy

Students are also able to participate in one special topic workshop. Although this year’s list of special topic workshops has not yet been finalized, likely special topic workshops include:

• Computer Science

• Game Design

• Sustainable Earth

• Music Technology

• Rocket Command

• Robotics

• Solar-Power Boat Racing

• Theme Park Engineering

Breakfast and lunch will be provided as well as raffle prizes for attendees!! Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer transportation to or from the event.

Do you enjoy science and friendly competition?

Try out for the PRHS Science Bowl Team!

Science Bowl is a nationwide academic competition, often compared to Jeopardy, where middle and high school teams answer questions in science and math disciplines like biology, chemistry, physics, math, and energy. Run by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), it encourages students to pursue careers in STEM by testing their knowledge in a fast-paced, buzzer-based format. The goal is to foster interest and skills in science and mathematics, with regional winners qualifying for the national event in Washington, D.C.  

The competition will be held on Saturday, March 6, 2027.  Before trying out, please ensure that you can be available to compete on this day.

See Dr. Poole to take the qualification quiz. 

The PennDOT Innovations Challenge is a statewide competition that challenges teams of students in ninth through 12th grades to use their problem-solving, creative, and strategic-thinking abilities to solve real-world transportation challenges. Regional winners will be selected by PennDOT's Engineering Districts. Those winners will move on to a statewide competition where an overall winner will be selected.

This year's challenge:

Develop an innovative solution that helps prevent overheight vehicles from striking Pennsylvania's bridges and tunnels. Your proposal should focus on identifying potential hazards before a collision occurs while improving safety, protecting infrastructure, and minimizing disruptions to travelers and local communities.

Submission Deadline: Friday, January 29, 2027 at 11:59 p.m.

The PGSS Program is a month long summer program in which students take core lecture courses in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics.  In addition, they offer several electives each summer in the five subjects listed above. We encourage students to take 1-3 electives during the program.

Outside of the lecture hall, students are required to take a laboratory course in one of the five core subject areas. The labs provide hands-on learning opportunities and meet twice a week for 3-hour sessions.

Students also participate in team research projects. Team Projects are a hallmark of the PGSS program in which students work in small teams with a faculty leader to form a hypothesis, design experiments, collect/analyze data, and present their findings at the annual PGSS Symposium held at the conclusion of the program. Students also write up their research to be published in the Journal of PGSS.

On Wednesdays, we guest speakers share their insights about their career paths or exciting new developments in their fields. Often our speakers are PGSS alumni. 

The program is only open to current juniors and is free for accepted students.

The 2027 PGSS Program will run from June 27 through July 31.

The application window for the 2027 Program closes January 31, 2027 at 11:59pm (EST). All materials (including references) must be submitted by this date and time for an applicant to be considered for the Program. However, the application is quite extensive, so interested students should get started soon.

Anato-Bee is a high school outreach initiative that promotes education in the anatomical sciences. The Anato-Bee will test high school student’s knowledge in anatomy, embryology, histology, and diagnostic skills through a spelling-bee inspired format. Top placing students at each regional competition will be awarded stipends for a partnering summer program.  The competition will be held virtually on January 30, 2027.  Please see here to register or for more information: https://anatobee.org/