Groton students take second place in national STEM challenge

It was an exciting day in Groton High School’s STEAM Learning Center on Saturday, Jan. 16, when 10 teams of three to five students, each with a mentor from the GHS staff, competed virtually against one another and thousands of other teams across the nation in the IgniteSTEM Design Challenge.

Based at Princeton University, IgniteSTEM is a student-run, nonprofit organization backed by Google Education and Wolfram Alpha. It hosts a series of free conferences annually to empower K-12 educators with the skills, resources and network they need to implement project-based learning in public schools around the world.

The IgniteSTEM Design Challenge is a daylong competitive event that encourages students to collaborate with each other, regardless of their background, while solving real-life problems, building teamwork, innovative thought process and time management skills.

After a packed morning listening to speakers and attending workshops for both students and educators, the teams spent the afternoon choosing a natural disaster, coming up with a design for something that would solve a problem related to it, working together to present their project to judges via Zoom and then watching the closing ceremony with hope to become the winning team.

Groton was well-represented with its teams as follows:

Reagan Allen, Brynn Blasz, Emily Cargian, Nick Gamel and John Sandford with mentor Andrew Doane; Drew Bush, Michaela Canady, Megan Cute and Jeannette Thomas-Brown with mentor Jake Reitmeier; Jadyn Craig, Nick Hall, Madalyn Perkins and Jaden Wolf with mentor Superintendent Margo Martin; Delaney Ayer, Sharla Lockwood, Abigail Sill and Jacob Zignefus with mentor Ryan Martin; Sarah Dean, Aiden Harriott, James Lucey, Noah McCormick and Tenley Webb with mentor Mick Levick; Evan Barclay, Mike Cooper, Madison Howell, Makayla Lockwood and Jackson Slade with mentor Michael McWilliams; Grant Corso, Emma DeMatteo, Kael Eldred, Kalib Manning and Bowen Zheng with mentor Associate Principal Jake Roe; Ethan Beckley, Joseph Bishop, Chloe Conger, Abby Dykeman and Kennedy Mayo with mentor Jason Oliver; Dakota Ayer, Nick Hall and Mason Hill with mentor Todd Martin; and Rachel Cargian, Emma Kennett, Dylan Sedorus, Hailey Van Alstine and Framke Vitale with mentor Angela Shurtleff.

While all 10 teams worked hard and had some amazing solutions to problems, it was Shurtleff’s team, dubbed randomly by the IgniteSTEM group as “Team Twisters,” that came away from the contest with second place for their prototype of an apparatus designed to resist earthquakes.

“It was more fun than I thought it was going to be and pretty interesting coming up with a design with my team,” Kennett said. “Taking second place was very exciting since we put a lot of effort into our project. I learned that designing something requires you to think outside the box and look at the problem from different views and to really value working in a team and listening to others’ ideas.”

Sedorus said he felt “very happy with our project” and that everyone on the team did a good job.

“I enjoyed working with my group and thought we did very well together,” he said. “I was very happy that we got second, not only over my friends at school, but people all over the country.”

Sedorus added that he learned more about earthquakes and how to prevent them and some strategies about teamwork and what works best. Vitale expressed that she was “beyond thankful to have been given this opportunity and the ability to have worked with my wonderful team.”

Vitale thought the design challenge was extremely interesting.

“I never would’ve imagined that my team would take second place out of the competition because there were so many other really talented students involved,” she said. “It was so amazing to see our names on the screen. To me, it signified not only our hard work, but also the idea that it doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can always accomplish something great.”

Vitale said she also learned how to effectively combat a challenge head-on and the steps it takes to do so, and how to take multiple ideas and turn them into one grand idea, while still considering the possible limitations.

Associate Principal Jake Roe’s team (“Team Giants”), though they did not place in the top four in the contest, were elated when one of the Princeton judges told them he was aware of a similar invention to theirs by a Dutch inventor in the early 1900s.

“Our project was about creating a design with our peers to resolve the adverse effects of natural disasters, and my group sought to tackle the issue of flooding by designing a house supported by barrels and poles,” Zheng said. “I felt excited to participate with others to address big issues that affect many people. I was surprised to find out the cost for our idea to work, but the figures seemed reasonable and made sense to me in the end.”

Zheng is a senior and hopes to go to college to study engineering.

“We chose flooding since it is the most common issue in the area that we live in,” Eldred said. “I was happy to be involved with this project. It was good experience. I learned about how deadly flooding is and how challenging it is to come up with a solution to a natural disaster like flooding because it is unpredictable and can occur at any time unexpectedly.”

Grant Corso, a freshman at Lansing High School, joined “Team Giants” for the day. He said the project was a lot of fun.

“I had never done anything like it before,” he said. “I felt that it went very smoothly considering the virtual circumstances.”

Shurtleff, “Team Twisters” mentor, summed up the sentiment of the day quite well.

“I really enjoyed seeing the students having a fun and educational experience,” she said. “There was laughter, excitement and a sense of school pride that has been hard to maintain during these difficult times.”

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

TST/GHS Students of the Month

The following Groton students were recognized as outstanding students of the month for December at the TST BOCES Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center: Cory Ayers, Heavy Equipment, and Madelyn Redfield, Early Childhood.

These students are chosen based on qualities such as character, leadership, citizenship, work ethic and attendance and should be compassionate, honest, trustworthy, responsible and a positive role model.

Now more than ever, TST BOCES believes it is important to recognize student success. These students have been resilient in the face of uncertainty, and the CTE staff applauds their efforts to remain focused and determined during this unusual school year.

Girls Who Code 

Girls Who Code is moving its summer immersion program online and making it free. All girls and nonbinary students in ninth through 12th grade (rising sophomores, juniors and seniors) are eligible to apply. 

In this virtual, two-week summer program, girls who attend will learn the computer science skills needed to make an impact in their community. No prior experience is required. 

Apply for summer 2021 at girlswhocode.com/Sipapply. The early acceptance deadline is mid-February. Application closes mid-March. 

The Groton Public Library has started the process to host a “Girls Who Code” club in the library once it is fully open, so this virtual summer program can be a great introduction for those who are interested.

Organic tea tasting 

Bad Apple Farm will be hosting a tea party at Bun Appetit Bakery, 215 Main St., from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30. This event is free of charge.  

If you are a tea lover or perhaps just enjoy drinking tea that is healthy and good for you, you are invited to stop in to taste some of Bad Apple’s 13 different organic teas.