A group of students from Thomas Hunter Middle School’s STEM-Hawk team was among the 2020 winners in the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association’s second annual REACH Challenge.

The Mathews County students were the only Virginians to place in the contest, which is an Adaptive and Assistive Technology design-thinking project for middle school, high school and college-level STEM programs.

The challenge is to design and construct assistive technology for a member of the students’ community. The STEM-Hawks had the highest scoring submission of all the middle schools entered from around the world, according to assistant principal Ken Noonan.

Faculty members Jason Williams and Pam Hudgins sponsored the middle school team, which included students Avery Morgan, Addison Morgan, Riley Tripp, Lydia Hinsen, Ray Hudgins and Felicity Hartlove.

Teachers are provided with lesson plans and activities on empathy, user-centered design, prototyping and more, to lead thei...