The National Academy of Engineering announced the winners of its 2024 EngineerGirl Writing Contest. This year’s competition asked students in elementary through high school to write an essay exploring the lifecycle of an object that is used in daily life. This year’s contest prompt, “The Secret Life of Everyday Items”, asked students to focus on the specific contributions and roles of engineers throughout the entire process of transforming raw materials into consumer products. Prizes were awarded to students based on grade level.
“Congratulations to the 2024 EngineerGirl Writing Contest winners for their creativity in crafting essays that highlight the core of engineering, which is ingenuity and bringing ideas to life,” said NAE President John L. Anderson. “These students skillfully showcased the key roles that engineers play throughout all processes of innovation, from design to development to implementation.”
NAE congratulates the following first place winners:
- Hiya Ghosh, a third-grade student at Eagle Point Elementary School in Oakdale, Minnesota, placed first among elementary school students for her essay “Toothpaste Engineering is super exciting!”
- Eesha Vanamala, an eighth-grade student from Brooklawn Middle School in Morris County, New Jersey, won first place among entries from middle school students for her essay exploring “The Story of an Arduino.”
- Vivian Bootz, a 10th grade student at Kewaunee High School in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, placed first among high school students for her essay titled “Paper's Life.”
Awards for contest winners are $1,000 for first place, $750 for second place, and $500 for third place. Winning entries, along with honorable mention entries, are published on the EngineerGirl website. Additional winners are listed below.
Elementary Winners:
- Second Place: Julia, “The Secret Life of a Pencil”
- Third Place: Mini Murthy, “Pencil, An Engineering Miracle”
- Honorable Mention: Addie DeMarco, “Engineers throughout lifecycle of paper”
- Honorable Mention: Athena Brown, “Rainbow's Story”
Middle School Winners:
- Second Place: Dalia Azam-Naseeruddin, “The Age of Plastics”
- Third Place: M. Goodwin, “Engineering Limitless Lash Altitude”
- Honorable Mention: Aaliyah Azeez, “The Life Story of a Smartphone”
- Honorable Mention: Max Gerhardt, “The Story of the Bottle”
High School Winners:
- Second Place: Aiden Choi, “Puff Goes the Inhaler”
- Third Place: Divyansha Nashine, “Odyssey of the Hero of Oral Hygiene: the Electric Toothbrush”
- Honorable Mention: Ahana Gupta, “Engineering the Run”
- Honorable Mention: Serena Tsai, “Preservation of Knowledge: The Life Cycle of a Ballpoint Pen”
EngineerGirl is designed for girls in elementary through high school and offers information about various engineering fields and careers, answers to questions, interviews of engineers, and other resources on engineering. Surveys of contest participants indicate that 40 percent of girls say they are more likely to consider an engineering career after writing their essay. EngineerGirl is part of the NAE’s ongoing effort to increase the diversity of the engineering workforce.
