AFRL La Luz Academy holds ‘egg-cellent’ symposium Published May 6, 2014 By Stephen Burke Air Force Research Laboratory KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The Air Force Research Laboratory La Luz Academy STEM Challenge Flight really came out of its shell at the culminating STEM Challenge Symposium. AFRL La Luz Academy at Kirtland is an education outreach program that promotes science, technology, engineering and math education activities for New Mexico students. The STEM Challenge Flight has high school students solve a technical problem using engineering design and support from AFRL scientists and engineers. During the school year, 18 high school teams created a system to catapult an egg through a suspended hula hoop and onto a target without breaking it. AFRL scientists and engineers provided support through virtual and in-person meetings. Teams earned points as they completed assignments that focused on investigating STEM concepts related to the problem. Teams earning at least 70 percent of the 5,000 points available were eligible to compete in the STEM Challenge Symposium, but all teams were allowed to attend. New Mexico Military Institute's "Catacolts" and "You Only Launch Once (YOLO)" teams, Hot Springs High School's "The Eggstraordinary Four," Alamogordo High School's Alamotion team and La Academia de Esperanza's "The A Team" qualified to compete at the symposium. Those teams earned additional points by giving an oral presentation and launching their payload protection devices at the target. The YOLO team won the Performance Excellence trophy for earning the most points during the competition. The Catacolts team won the Project Excellence trophy for earning the most points of any team overall, including points for assignments completed during the school year, and points earned during the competition.