We held or will hold STEM Days at mainstream high schools and schools for the deaf in California, Washington State, and New Mexico:

• Northern California
  • Red Bluff High School
  • Leigh High School
  • CSD-Fremont
  • San Francisco Academy
  • Hayward High School
  • Rodriguez High School
  • Sacramento High School
  • Monterey Trail High School
• Southern California
  • Marlton School for the Deaf
  • Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts
• Washington: March 9-13, partnering with NTID Admissions (A. Alfano and M. Sommer)
• New Mexico: April 6-10, partnering with AIDB NRSC (D. Monahan and M. Sommer with two  AIDB NRSC team members) 

The AIDB NRSC VEX Tournament with middle and high school students is April 20-May 1 (C. Brucker, K. Thornton and M. Sommer).

A total of 61 middle school students entered our Tiger Science Challenge – Boat Challenge. We were pleased to announce the following winners on social media:

• Strongest Boat
  • Maya Tree – 6^th Grade Harrison Middle School
  • Joseph Genao Beco – 8^th Grade, New York School for the Deaf
  • Maylin Alfaro – 8^th grade, Lexington School for the Deaf
• Most Creative Boat
  • Carson Granado – 7^th Grade, Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
  • Xylia Ellis – 8^th Grade, Kendall Demonstration
  • Phoenix Greeff – 6^th Grade, Utah School for the Deaf and Blind

We had 18 students enter the Spirit Writing Competition, and we were pleased to announce on social media the following winners:

• 10^th Grade
  • Esther Ley – Kansas School for the Deaf
  • Elisabeth Schuette – Metro Deaf School
• 11^th Grade
  • Ariana Rodiguez Saldana – Burke High School
  • Quentin Ertoz – De La Salle High School

Our Career Exploration Series most recently hosted two webinars: Smart Crab Robotics: Build, Test, and Explore led by Trisha Gard-Thompson, and Social Impact, Business, and Leadership: How Deaf Students Can Build Projects That Change Their Communities led by Bakar Ali.

Regional rounds for the 2026 Math Competition have begun:

• West – Feb 6-8: 8 teams registered
  • Team Winners (will be invited to participate in National Math Competition in Rochester, NY end of March)
    • 1^st Place: California School for the Deaf, Riverside
    • 2^nd Place: Venado Middle School
    • 3^rd Place: Oregon School for the Deaf
    • 4^th Place: California School for the Deaf - Fremont
  • Individual Winners & Top Scorer
    • 1^st Place: Zeux Valencia-Biskupiak – California School for the Deaf, Riverside
    • 2^nd Place: Talia Montoya – California School for the Deaf, Riverside
    • 3^rd Place: Gio Lee – Venado Middle School
  • Top Scorer: Gio Lee – Venado Middle School
  • Special Awards
    • Ben Hall Spirit Award: Izzy Stevens – Dartmouth Middle School
    • Tiger Team Sportsmanship Award: Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind

Thanks to Del Norte High School (Albuquerque, NM) for their hospitality and support in making this competition a success.

• Midwest – Feb 20-22: 5 teams registered
• Northeast – Mar 6-8: 14 teams registered

The Southeast regional competition, originally scheduled for January 23-25 in Marietta, Georgia, was cancelled due to weather. We are scheduling a virtual competition for that region to be held on February 24^th.

The national competition is March 27-29 with 16 teams invited (four per region) to RIT/NTID.