Panda Express MESA Day Preliminary @ USC

Pre MESA Day is MESA's signature competitions. Every year at Pre MESA Day, a variety of STEM competitions are hosted at the University of Southern California. We hope to see all of our students compete at Pre MESA Day this Spring!
Since 2001, Panda Express has sponsored our local competition.
We celebrate 26 years of sponsorship!
For our 2026 MESA Day Preliminary, we will NOT include the pilot competitions (AI & Health Disparities for high school and AI for Social Good for middle school). However, we encourage our students to try it out and give us feedback at [email protected] so that we can make sure these AI competitions are part of our 2027 Pre MESA Day. 

Logistics

Team Registration and Submission Deadline for ALL Competitions on Sunday, March 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.

  • All teams participating in Pre MESA Day MUST register in advance.
  • All teams MUST submit electronically engineering lab book, science journal, Bio Breakthrough video, and NEDC design proposal and academic poster.

The registration and submission link is now OPEN; the registration and submission is ONE link/form. So, please only register when you have formed your team and your team is ready to submit/upload required project file(s); the only competitions that do NOT require project files to be submitted/uploaded are Coding Solutions, Math Escape Challenge, and Prepared/Impromptu Speech.

Please check back on this page for updated information for Pre MESA Day; revisions may be needed.
Cargo Glider
Crime Scene Science / Bio Breakthrough
MESA Machine
​Moon Base
  • Submit engineering lab book or science journal electronically in PDF format by March 1.
  • Bio Breakthrough - submit video presentation by March 1.

Coding Solutions
  • On the day of the competition, each team MUST bring their own laptop computer that can log into this CodeHS link without any district firewalls with student account (see naming convention in General Rules). Guest wireless will be available.

Math Escape Challenge
  • A maximum of 20 middle school teams and a maximum of 35 high school teams can compete; spaces will be allocated to the teams that register first.
  • On the day of the competition, each team MUST bring their own laptop computer that can access this Brain Chase link without any district firewalls; guest wireless will be available.

NEDC: Designing for Local Change
  • A maximum of 15 middle school teams and a maximum of 15 high school teams can compete. Each school may be limited in the number of teams.
  • Submit design proposal and academic poster in PDF format by March 1.
  • USC MESA will print each team's uploaded academic poster and have it ready on the day of the competition; photo of tri-fold presentation boards will NOT be printed.
  • The Technical Pitch will be limited to a maximum of 6 minutes.
  • The Symposium will be limited to a maximum of 6 minutes.

Competition Rules

Engineering Lab Book
An engineering lab book is required to compete in the Moon Base, Cargo Glider, and the MESA Machine competitions. Please use the guideline and template resources for your Engineering Lab Book.
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Cargo Glider
Cargo Glider Specialist:
​Julie Menendez
[email protected]
Coding Solutions
Coding Solutions Specialist:
None
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Crime Scene Science / Bio Breakthrough
Crime Scene Science / Bio Breakthrough Specialist
Emily Santos-Salazar
​[email protected]
Math Escape Challenge
Math Escape Challenge Specialist:
​None
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MESA Machine
​MESA Machine Specialist:
Melissa Alvarez
​[email protected]
Moon Base
Moon Base Specialist:
Elaine McNeil
[email protected]
Speech
Speech Specialist:
None
National Engineering Design Challenge
NEDC Specialist:
​Christopher Garcia
​[email protected]

Pre MESA Day 2025 RESULTS

Congratulations to all of our students who participated at Pre MESA Day on March 8, 2025! We hope that the project competition(s) inspired you and helped you to grow as a student and individual through your commitment, dedication, perseverance, and never giving up. Be proud of your accomplishments!

Pre-MESA Day 2024

Congratulations to all of our students who participated at Pre MESA Day on March 9, 2024! We hope that the project competition(s) inspired you and helped you to grow as a student and person through developing your problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills. Be proud of your accomplishments!

Pre-MESA Day 2023

Congratulations to all of our USC MESA students! Through your participation, we hope that you grew as a student by learning the importance of perseverance and collaboration!

Pre-MESA Day 2022

Results for all competitions, except Coding Solutions, were live streamed from on our USC MESA YouTube Channel. See the video to right.
Thank you to everyone who participated and supported our Pre MESA Day event! Click the buttons below to view all competition winners for middle and high school levels separately. Congratulations to all, your hard work and effort is amazing and you should ALL be very proud of yourselves for participating this year!

Pre-MESA Day 2021

For the competition results, please click the specific level button below. Please note the three tabs/sheets at the bottom:
  • ​Projects = results for all competitions
  • Awards + Raffles by School = list of medal, ribbon, and raffle winners
  • LA Metro Regional MESA Day = list of teams advancing to the regional finals