Jul 4, 2018 1 min read

A team of seventh-graders from Fort Couch Middle School earned first place honors at the statewide 2018 STEM Design Challenge at Harrisburg University. Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, the STEM Design Challenge tasks teams of students in grades 4-8 with brainstorming, developing and implementing a solution to an engineering problem using K’Nex building materials. Teams were required to use at least one motor and could not exceed 1,400 K’Nex pieces. “The team also had to create a blueprint and journal about their structure,” Jason O’Roark, gifted education teacher, said. “At competition, they had two hours to build their structure from their blueprints and then present their design solution to a team of judges.” The Fort Couch team developed and built a robotic arm that could help around the house by doing dishes, cooking and many other things while being powered by a piezoelectric floor throughout the house. Pictured from left are team members Evan Sarkett, Matthew Earley, John Scherer (back), Quinton Miller and Phillip Markovitz