LHMS students earn honors at mechanical design competition
Photos: Courtesy of Bobbi Downs
Laurel Highlands Middle School 7th and 8th graders (from left) Donovan Lynn, Belle Distelrath, Bridget Distelrath and Jordyn Davis took third place overall in a mechanical design competition.
Courtesy of Bobbi Downs
Laurel Highlands Middle School 6th grade team (from left) Brady Sirochman, Arham Sabir, Lauren Radcliffe, and Delaney Martin won first place honors for teamwork and answering interview questions in a mechanical design competition.
Courtesy of Bobbi Downs
Sixth grade students at Laurel Highlands Middle School work on their project for a recent mechanical design competition.
A Laurel Highlands Middle School team earned a first place award for teamwork and answering interview questions in a mechanical design competition.
Held on Dec. 2 at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, the competition pitted students in school districts in Fayette and Westmoreland counties against one another to create a fluid powered mechanism that could rotate, extend, lift, and grab.
Sixth grade students Arham Sabir, Delaney Martin, Lauren Radcliffe, and Brady Sirochman earned the first place wins, while a team comprised of 7th and 8th graders Belle Distelrath, Bridget Distelrath, Donovan Lynn, and Jordyn Davis took third place overall based on the points they earned for both their creation, its performance, and their portfolio.
Middle school students from all competing districts prepared by attending a workshop day at Penn State Fayette in October. During the workshop, students received an overview of the competition and learned more about mechanical engineering, hydraulic systems, and safety protocols. They were also given the opportunity to create their own prototype following a model provided to them. They were sent home with the materials necessary to come up with their own design ideas, and to create a final prototype which they were expected to recreate on competition day nine weeks later.
The students were given measurements of the competition board which had three variously weighted spools and three pillars of various heights. The teams earned points by having a functioning mechanism that was able to pick up the spools, rotate to the pillars, and place them on top without falling.
Points were determined by the weight of the spool factored in with the height of the pillar it was placed on. Teams were also evaluated on the design process in which they had to create detailed designs and portfolios. The portfolios were judged based on organization, creativity, and attention to detail.
The LH teams were sponsored by Tina Gulino and Abigail Wingrove, and the competition was hosted by the Fayette County Education Partnership and sponsored by Williams.