Explore. Innovate. Achieve.

The annual High School Design Competition is hosted and sponsored by the Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program at the University of Kansas School of Engineering. Fellows in the third-year cohort plan and execute the event from idea to competition day.  For Fall 2021, we are excited to offer the opportunity to participate in High School Design either in person at the KU Engineering Campus or by joining us virtually.  Read on to explore all the ways you can be involved!

The SELF Program is proud to award $12,000 in scholarships to event winners.

The High School Design Competition is a free event that takes place annually in the fall, putting high school students' creativity and teamwork skills, as well as their technical knowledge and abilities to the test. Each year features new engineering design challenges in different engineering disciplines as dreamed up by students in the Self Engineering Leadership Fellows Program. Working as individuals or in small teams in their hometowns, high school students design, build and test a project that addresses the design criteria. 

For students and teachers who will be traveling to Lawrence for in-person participation on HSD Day this year, they will bring their completed projects to the KU School of Engineering Check-in location on the day of the competition where they will be tested by KU Engineering Students.  Teams will present their projects to the judges and see their projects in a head-to-head competition to determine which engineering solution was the best.  Details on Check-in Location will be provided in the registration information packet.

For students who are participating virtually this year, they can either ship or deliver their completed projects to the KU School of Engineering in advance of the competition day and they will be tested by KU Engineering Students.  Teams will tune in to the live stream on High School Design Competition Day to present their projects and see their project in a head-to-head competition to determine which engineering solution was the best.

We encourage you to give it a shot and we look forward to seeing the way you solve the challenges of this year's High School Design Competition!

Please email highschooldesign@ku.edu with questions.