How can a two-part structure weighing in at 25 grams hold at
least 330 pounds?
For a team of Prairie Winds Elementary School third graders, the
task was far from impossible and helped them to acquire a first
place title in the Colorado Destination ImagiNation New Angle,
structural and architectural design, challenge. The team will soon
head to Tennessee for the global finals competition May 20.
The “Blu it Up” team — Vaughn Bassett, Paige Campbell, Bryce
Christensen, Caitlin O’Grady, Chase Perconti, William Vanderoef and
John-Marshall West — is the first from the Pikes Peak Region to
compete at the global level.
The Prairie Winds team built a structure designed with four main
posts and structural supports in between the posts, said Paula
Perconti, gifted and talented facilitator at Prairie Winds. The
structure was created out of balsa wood and glue and has held up to
all the Prairie Winds teachers who have stood on it.
While the structure was being tested with weights, the rest of
the team performed a skit in which the kids pretended to be
dinosaurs trying to prevent other prehistoric creatures from
stealing their eggs, according to the kids.
Blu it Up’s team manager Craig Christensen helped the kids
understand basic architectural concepts prior to the
competition
The events are child-centered and require that the kids come up
with all of the ideas, said parent Donna O’Grady.
“I’ve realized a kid’s imagination is stronger than adults’
because there is not as much knowledge in our heads and we have
more room for imagination,” Campbell said.
The kids tell the adults to stay away while they are working on
their projects, because they want the products to be their own,
Perconti said. They learn how to resolve conflict and to work as a
team, both lessons that will last them a lifetime, she and O’Grady
said.
Third-grader Caitlin O’Grady said the competition taught her it
is important for her to think for herself.
In addition to the main challenge and performance, the children
are also asked to participate in secret challenges, Perconti said.
She added the secret challenges cannot be talked about because some
are reused on other teams, but they might involve the team being
given a set of materials from which they have to create something
within a given time limit.
While they learned, the students all enjoyed the life
experiences they gained from being part of the competition, such as
making new friends and participating in fun activities.
“You get to go to places you’ve never been,” Vanderoef said.
“You get to experience talents [of people] from other countries,”
Bassett said.
To get the kids to the global competition, the team has created
a dinosaur that sits at the front of the school waiting to be “fed”
with contributions and has asked the community for help in raising
enough, $1,074 per student, to get six of the seven members of the
team to the competition.
To help the team get to the global competition, contact Prairie
Winds Elementary’s main office at 719-559-0800.