Each month, students have signed up to compete in a monthly engineering challenge meet. At the meet, they were issued a design challenge, and they worked in teams of 2-3 to meet that challenge. After 45 minutes, the designs were evaluated, and the meet winners were determined. All members of winning teams accumulated points over the season, and our seven-meet season is now complete. A total of 41 students participated in the Engineering Challenge over the course of this year. The winners of the 2016-17 Engineering Challenge, based on individual, accumulated scores over the season were:
1st Place: Evelyn Medeiros, Brahmin Thurber-Carbone
2nd Place: Marissa D’Antonio, James Kelliher, Meghan Sawyer
3rd Place: Jack Sierputoski, Garrett Zeilinger, Elizabeth Williamson
I have appreciated working with my colleagues, including Chris Connors, Michael Lavers, Dana Munn, and Elsbeth Todd, as we organized and ran each of our challenges.
And just to share – the last two Engineering Challenges were:
Craft a box from one piece of thin cardboard only by cutting (no tape, glue). The box needs to have tabs or slots or tucks to hold it together so that no sides collapse. Then, nest that box in another box, then another. How many can you make in 45 minutes? Winning number of nesting boxes was five – it was surprisingly challenging!
Create a fidget spinner using a bearing and other items such as nuts, washers, wooden sticks, etc. The spinner that spins the longest wins. The winning time was one minute and fifty four seconds!