Students in the gifted programs of Penn Middle School and Trafford Middle School competed in the Rube Goldberg Event sponsored by Kiski School District and the Westmoreland County Gifted Coalition. In all, thirteen teams representing four school districts participated.
The competition challenged students to create a contraption that would water a plant in a minimum of ten steps. Students could use any found material to make the machine, and they chose themes and decorated the machine to reflect the theme. Finally, students created a story that explained why the machine was built and presented to a panel of judges.
Penn-Trafford swept the top spots, with first place going to the team of Ethan Goldsworthy, Jake Lang, and Logan Matrisch. Second place was awarded to the team of Julianna Eshman, Jamison Kelley, Elsie Ley, and Alex Serapiglia. Two Penn-Trafford teams tied for third place; one team consisted of Sam Nied and Santino Caruso and the other team included Erik Gunstrom, Drew Hauck, Skylar Lilliock, and Chloe Yun.
The team of Logan Matrisch, Jake Lang, and Ethan Goldsworthy took 1st place
The team of Julianna Eshman, Alex Serapiglia, Elsie Ley, and Jamison Kelley earned 2nd place
Sam Nied and Santino Caruso tied for 3rd place
Chloe Yun is pictured with her machine which tied for 3rd place; her teammates Erik Gunstrom, Drew Hauck, and Skylar Lilliock are missing from the photo