Freshmen Valerie Chen, Raghav Ramraj, Matthew Sun and Jasper Treakle were announced as winners of the state eCYBERMISSION competition for their collaborative project on proposing a possible aid to prevent distracted driving.

“We were absolutely ecstatic. I’m really excited about the new team, and I think that this is the best project we’ve ever done,” Sun said.

A nationwide competition, eCYBERMISSION is focused in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), in which a group of students ranging from sixth to ninth grade investigate and offer possible answers to current problems in their area.

Advised by Latha Ramraj, Raghav’s mother, the group, named “TXT U L8R”, focused on the prevalence of distracted driving in the local Washington, D.C., area.

They designed a 3D sensor using Microsoft Kinect that could recognize movements of the driver’s head and determine whether the driver was distracted or not.

In addition, the team also raised awareness of the danger of distracted driving by establishing a website as well as distributing brochures.

After their win in the state-wide competition, their project will be judged at the national level in June.

“I am really proud of our team. We worked really hard on our project, and I’m glad the judges liked it,” Chen said.