Lively’s “Future Engineers” are blasting off, wink wink, to new heights!! Early in October of last semester a specially picked group of students from a variety of grade levels were picked to be on Lively’s “Future Engineers” team. This group would then work together for the following few months on a special project made for NASA’s student “TechRise” competition, where they would need to make a project that goes into the atmosphere.
After finishing in late November, the students found themselves forgetting about the project over time, until it was time for the winners to be announced. Friday, January 24th, me, eight of the nine “Future Engineer” group members, and Ms. Tipton, the Magnet Director at Lively and the Project Lead, met together in the Limitless Center to find out the winners of the event. We sat, watching the TV Ms. Tipton had set up, waiting for the winners to be announced. Speaker Deanne Bell and an assortment of other professionals discussed the competition, how the winners would continue their work with NASA, etc. After what I’m sure seemed like an endless wait for the others, the winning school’s names began flashing rapidly on the screen. And after a minute of silent waiting, there it was, Lively Middle School!
Lively, along with about 60 other Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, picked by the over 200 volunteer judges from the 720+ submissions, won the competition. The room exploded into cheering, smiles, and an overall joyous nature. The students were ecstatic, as they should be, and Ms. Tipton shared the feeling. A cake was brought out and, unsurprisingly, the students dove into it. Already, they started asking questions and planning. The students’ project, titled “Seeds in Space”, focused on how elevation could affect the growth of plants. The plan was to construct a tiny box programmed to open certain amounts at certain levels of elevation, to see how the levels of elevation change the seeds growth rates both up there and back down on earth. What won was just the plan for the project, but now, with the allowance of $1,500 granted from Techrise and its ability to launch the designs, it’s the team’s duty to bring their plan to life. The launch date is sometime in May, and the team hopes to be done by April.
So, if you see a Techrise champ in the hallways make sure to give them a thumbs up, or just do the robot. Now laugh.
