On Wednesday, November 16, the fifth grade from NC and SPPS hosted an “Engineering Extravaganza.” The students had fun competing in stem challenge activities.
Students were required to pick two challenges to pursue individually. As students worked on their projects, they had to problem-solve to see what would work and what would not work. In the contest, the top three in each event received a prize. This project was a part of their science grade.
One of the challenges the students could do was to make a Marshmallow Tower. To do this students had to use spaghetti noodles and marshmallows to build the tallest tower. The Marshmallow Tower winners were Olivia Anderson, 1st place; Aubrey Wood, 2nd place; Josie Altenhofen and Henry Hermesch tied for 3rd place; Morgan Haverkamp, 4th place; Korbin Schmelzle, 5th place; and Payson Wise, 6th place.
Another challenge was the Aluminum Foil Boat. The students had to make a boat out of foil. Next, they had to put it in the water and fill it with pennies to see how many they could get in it without the boat sinking. The Aluminum Foil Boat winners were Caitlyn Moyer, 1st place; Olivia Bergman, 2nd place; Ella Bartkoski, 3rd place; Mason Dalinghaus and Rykeir Feldkamp tied for 4th place; Charlie Koch, 5th place; and Logan Honeyman, 6th place.
Logan Honeyman said, “It was fun watching other people’s boats go down before mine.”
Students could also participate in the Peppermint Racers event. In this challenge, the students had to build a car using peppermint wheels and popsicle sticks to see who could travel the farthest distance down a ramp. The Peppermint Racer winners were Landen Stallbaumer, 1st place; Kenly Kramer, 2nd place; Peaton Wise, 3rd place; Belle Fredrickson, 4th place; Will Martin, 5th place; and Alec Nordhus, 6th place.
The Paper Clip Chain was another event that students could do. In this event, students had to build a paper clip chain that would hold the most weight using only one box of paper clips. The winners from the Paper Clip Chain were Conrad Cain, 1st place, Bentin Deters, 2nd place; Ashton Johnson, Nikki Lambrecht, Evan Spring, and Bracin Stallbaumer tied for 3rd place; Jayden Ogden and Evan Bletscher tied for 4th place.
Another challenge was the Marshmallow Slingshot event. In this event, students had to design a slingshot to launch a large marshmallow the farthest distance. Winners of the Marshmallow Slingshot were Heston Kramer, 1st place; Grady Schmelzle, 2nd place; Korbin Schmelzle, 3rd place; Olivia Bergman, 4th place; Kristian DeLosRios, 5th place; and Evan Spring, 6th place.
The last event the students could participate in was the Popsicle Stick Bridge. In this event, students had to build the strongest bridge using popsicle sticks and liquid glue. Winners of this contest were Henry Hermesch, 1st place; Milo Heinen, 2nd place; Bentin Deters, 3rd place; Kolton Kidd, 4th place; Violet Ruegge, 5th place; and Paul Rottinghaus, 6th place.
During the “Engineering Extravaganza,” there were a couple of records broken by students. Landen Stallbaumer broke the record in the Peppermint Racers. Also in the Marshmallow Slingshot, three boys had to have a shoot-off because their marshmallows hit the wall. They all broke the record with 86' 5” launches. The three boys were Heston Kramer, Grady Schmelzle, and Korbin Schmelzle.
Korbin Schmelzle said, “I liked building the challenges, but was disappointed when my slingshot broke after a launch in the shoot-off.”
The students enjoyed designing and problem-solving their way through the projects. This was a fun learning experience for all the students.
Click the link below for more photos.