Whiz kids dazzle in contest
400 students launch, build, float, drop stuff for $5,000 in prizes.
WEST PALM BEACH — There’s nothing like an engineering competition to intimidate the heck out of people of a certain age. People who have ties older than some of the 400 or so elementary, middle and high school-aged youngsters competed for $5,000 in prizes Saturday at the South Florida Science Center’s 29th annual “Drop It, Build It, Float It, Launch It, Thrill It” event.
“They really give me hope for the future,” gushed Kate Arrizza, the science center’s chief operating officer. “Have you seen them? I mean, they build rockets that go 1,200 feet in the air.”
Not just rockets. Rockets that, by rule, must be made from 2-liter soft drink bottles.
“Five, four, three, t wo, one,” the crowd shouted before a blast of pressurized air sent Angeline Castañeda’s rocket skyward.
Castañeda, 13, is one of 16 kids from the STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — class at St. Luke’s Catholic School in Palm Springs. “They amaze me. Every day they teach me something new,” teacher Diane Bacchus said.
For complete results of Saturday’s competition, go to
MYRNA ROSOFF, BOYNTON BEACH
if it was crunchy or smooth.”
Across the way, the Nietos’ cousin, Eric Patino, 17, also of Wellington, was watching workers pour sand into a bucket hanging from his balsa wood arch bridge. The halfpound arch held a remarkable 19 pounds before it gave way.
“Float It” competitors had 40 minutes to construct a boat from t wo paint stirring sticks, t wo playing cards, two straws, two paper clips and electrical tape, and send it down a long waterway, pushed along by an electric fan.
Michelle Guzman, 16, from John I. Leonard High, made it all the way in eight seconds. “If I didn’t bump into the wall a little, I’d swear I’d have done five seconds,” she boasted.
“Thrill It” was all about roller coasters, which the kids slaved on for as many as eight weeks.
Omar Hammad, 11, from Odyssey Middle in Boynton Beach, and some neighbor kids built their “Minecraft” contraption from airconditioner pipe insulation foam covers.
Dad Jamal sheepishly admitted, that, well, he was an engineer. He also admitted, “I’m telling him (Omar) to go for business. You make more money.”