Junior Miguel Taruc placed first in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math challenge hosted at San Joaquin Delta College on Oct. 5.

San Joaquin Delta College invites schools to compete in challenges under these four categories, and they support the challenge themselves. The goal is to get the participants interested in science careers, and the winners receive a medal.

Taruc found out about the competition from physics teacher Dean Reese and biology teacher Del Palaban. Taruc was not going to let an opportunity like this slip by.

“I want to have a career in science, so I knew that entering the competition would be beneficial for me. I immediately wanted to compete in the math category,” Taruc said.

Even though this was Tracy High School’s second year participating in the challenge, it was Taruc’s first. He did not know what to expect, so Palaban provided him with a practice test.

“The first time I took the practice test it was very challenging, but that did not deter me, I knew that I just had to work that much harder,” Taruc said.

During the challenge Taruc competed against 20 others, answering 20 logic derived math questions in one hour. Taruc put his brain to the test and came out successful, placing first in the math category.

“I felt very accomplished with winning, and I am definitely going to be participating next year,” Taruc said.

“I saw the potential for success in Miguel, so I felt very proud seeing him place first,” Palaban said.

Tauruc was not the only student from Tracy High to compete. Since it was the sophomore team’s (Sara Davenport, Arlet Hernandez, and Caroline Kimura) second year competing, the judges made them compete against seniors so they would not be stuck with the same challenge as last year.

“I am glad that the judges did this, otherwise we would be doing the same challenge from last year, and that would be kind of boring,” Davenport said.

The sophomores competed in the engineering category. They had to build a bridge out of popsicle sticks in only five hours that would hold a certain weight.

“We had to go into the competition with a plan ahead of time, or else it would completely fall apart,” Hernandez said.

Things were looking good for the sophomores; however, about halfway through they started to run out of popsicle sticks, and time was running short. The sophomores ended up placing fifth in the engineering category.

“Even though we did not win, I am still happy that I got to participate in the challenge. I learned how to work in groups under pressure, which I am sure is a skill that I will use later in life,” Kimura said.