Four Berlin Community School students traveled to the Blackwood U.S. Army Reserve Center Friday, March 22, to showcase their STEAM designs to judges at the regional STEAM Tank Challenge.
The students, who completed two separate designs in two groups, created prototypes of their designs to showcase, according to STEAM teacher Michael Ford.
The students had the opportunity to showcase their designs to “the sharks” and answer questions about their prototypes.
“While they were there, [the students] took us through a three-minute video presentation talking about the engineering design process,” Ford said.
Of the nearly 600 teams across the state, there were approximately 160 elementary school teams from South Jersey eligible for the competition that applied. The two groups from BCS were two of the 56 teams that were invited to the regional competition to showcase their designs.
Karina Ezeiruaku and Addison Love designed “Dare Blocks” while Evan Egwards and Gavin Conklin created the “Bobble Bug.” The fifth-graders designed the prototypes over the past two months in preparation for showcasing them at the regional competition, with the theme being sustainability or the need to go green.
Ezeiruaku and Love’s design of “Dare Blocks” are 3D printed blocks that go together like Jenga blocks, with two dares printed on opposite sides, one associated with doing something around recycling or sustainability and the other dealing with being kind to others.
“It was interesting to see what actual people do to have a company,” Ezeiruaku said.
Ezeiruaku also said the groups explained to the judges their engineering process, and how they continued to design their concepts over time and overcome challenges or adversity when they might have hit a bump along the way.
The group looks forward to finding out if it qualified for the next round of the competition, which it will learn in early April. Upon doing so, they want to make improvements to their prototype and design.
“Addison and I are already planning on talking to experts to see if teachers and companies are interested in Dare Blocks,” Ezeiruaku said.
Egwards and Conklin’s Bobble Bug design is a moveable trash can on the ground with wheels and LD lights, designed like a ladybug. The top part of the object opens up to collect trash and recyclable material.
Ford says the two boys hoped to find a way to get more students to pitch in when it comes to cleaning.
“They felt like if they could create some kind of device that can go down the halls, that kids would be more likely to recycle,” Ford said.
Egwards said a quote from Winston Churchill stayed with him throughout the process, reminding him that setbacks aren’t the end of a project, but simply part of the process.
“Failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts,” Edwards said, reciting the famous quote.
Egwards also said he hopes in the future the groups that competed, and other students as well, will have time to create and improve their designs during and after school, saying the STEAM program at BCS has been very enjoyable to them.
Finals for the competition, if the groups advance, are in October. In reflecting, Ford agrees with his students and looks forward to reaching out to community officials and experts on their designs before competitions to get opinions on their creations.
“But for their first time, I’m really proud of the way that they handled themselves,” Ford said. “It was good for our program to get out there a little bit, we’re like the underdogs.”
