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 MORRISTOWN’S DELBARTON SCHOOL CAPTURES SECOND STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP IN PANASONIC CREATIVE DESIGN CHALLENGE

All-Sophomore Team Is Tops Among 46 NJ High School Teams; Wins $5,000 Scholarships for Eco-Conscious Beach Cleanup Robot Design

Bergen County Academy Teams Take Second and Third Place Honors

NEWARK, NJ (March 26, 2009) – A team of three sophomore students from Delbarton School in Morristown outmaneuvered 46 high school teams from across New Jersey to win their second straight title in the 2009 Panasonic Creative Design Challenge (CDC) today at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  The team also won the 2008 competition as freshmen.

The CDC is the premier science and technology competition for New Jersey high school students and is co-sponsored by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).  This year’s theme, “Beach Sweep,” challenged students to design and build a robot, primarily utilizing recyclable household items, to perform simple beach and shoreline cleanup and habitat restoration tasks. More than 80 high school teams took part in preliminary rounds. 

The Eco-theme of this year’s competition underscores Panasonic’s strong commitment to protecting the environment through a wide range of Eco-responsible initiatives including local and national recycling programs, a global focus on creating energy-efficient products and technologies, sponsorship of environmental initiatives and utilizing the power of employee volunteerism to make a difference in local communities.

Delbarton and the Bergen County Academies of Hackensack dominated the competition, with teams from Bergen Academies taking second and third places and another Delbarton team coming in fourth. More than $40,000 in scholarship money and prizes were awarded to winning teams. 

Delbarton students Peter Godart, Justin Park, and Bud Peters, with the support of their faculty advisor and teacher Greg Devine, successfully designed, built and maneuvered a robot through a timed obstacle course during this afternoon’s finals competition during which they had five minutes to perform eight point-value tasks.  They were also judged on their engineering logbooks and an oral presentation of their design. Each winning team member was awarded a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes. Second place students each received $4,000 scholarships, third place students received $3,000 and fourth place students received $2,000 courtesy of Panasonic Corporation of North America.

“I am astounded by the hard work done by all of this year’s competitors,” said Joseph Taylor, Panasonic’s Executive Vice President and COO.  “When I look at what you have accomplished, I have great confidence for the future. Your achievements exemplify the engineering excellence to which Panasonic is committed.”

The Panasonic Creative Design Challenge scores student teams not only on their success at designing and maneuvering a robot through an obstacle course during the allotted time, but also judges competitors on all phases of design and execution. Modeling a real-world engineering process, the CDC requires students to keep an engineering log book with their robotics designs and notes, submit a written report and give an oral presentation that tests their communication skills. All 46 teams competing in the finals had already completed a rigorous preliminary competition.

For complete results and more information on the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge, please visit http://www.panasonic.com/cdc.

About Panasonic

Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America markets a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC), and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic is pledged to practice prudent, sustainable use of the earth's natural resources and protect our environment through the company’s Eco Ideas programs.  Information about Panasonic and its products is available at www.panasonic.com. Additional company information for journalists is available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.