Students Become Oil and Gas Explorers at HISD PetroChallenge

Westside, Milby, and Lamar Petroleum Academy students compete at annual event

January 24, 2012
Petro Challenge
Westside HS students Malik Willis (left) and Taylor Gladney (right) placed first at the 2012 PetroChallenge with the help of teammate Taahir Shaikh, who hails from Southwest HS in Fort Worth ISD.

Westside Petroleum Academy student Malik Willis admits he was little overwhelmed during the first day of competition at the HISD PetroChallenge. However, once he and his two teammates got acclimated, it was full steam ahead.

"It was a team challenge, so we had to get to know each other first and discover each other's strengths and abilities," Willis said. The high school sophomore and his teammates ended up taking first place at the fourth annual competition, which was held at Westside High School Jan. 18–20.

The culmination of the three-day event was a computer simulation exercise in which teams of Petroleum Academy students from Westside, Milby, and Lamar high schools competed to form oil and gas companies. This year, students from Forth Worth ISD's Southwest High School were added to the mix.

"We scrambled the teams up so it was a fabulous opportunity for students to work with others they had never met before," said Anne Ford, Associate Director for the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPPA). "We wanted it to be just like the real world where you have to work collaboratively with people from other backgrounds and other disciplines."

Also like the real world of the oil and gas industry, students had to study seismic surveys, bid for licenses, compete to get rigs, and choose where to drill wells as part of the competition.

"They started out with a budget of $200 million and they drilled wells offshore and went through the whole process like any oil company would do," said Olavur Ellefsen, the founder of Simprentis, the computer software used for the competition.

Taahir Saikh, a Southwest High School sophomore who was on the winning team with Willis, said the experience went well beyond what he has learned in the classroom. "I really like challenges and I think oil and gas is the career path for me," Saikh said. "This experience really helped me to see that."

The sponsors of the event, which include the El Paso Corporation and IPPA, hope other participants feel the same way. "We're developing the next generation of energy professionals," Ford said. "These students are going to be the individuals that drive our industry forward."

The winning teams for the PetroChallenge include:

First Place

Malik Willis - Westside High School, HISD

Taahir Shaikh - Southwest High School, Fort Worth ISD

Taylor Gladney - Westside High School, HISD

Second Place

Theresa Tran - Southwest High School, FWISD

Rajpal Sian - Southwest High School, FWISD

Joseph Gutierrez - Milby High School, HISD

Third Place

Maria Ruizesparza - Southwest High School, FWISD

Kelly Snyder - Westside High School, HISD

Arthuro Garza III - Westside High School, HISD

Xavier Singleton - Westside High School, HISD