53 VA Teams Compete
Extreme Creativity from Two VA-Teams acknowledged with Ranatra Fusca Awards
Problem 1, Division 1: STEUART WELLER ELE SCH, Leesburg, VA
The team’s solution made the judges laugh multiple times at this visit to the dentist! The solution started with a team member in a custom-built dental chair. During the procedure we are able to see what’s happening inside the patient’s mouth with set pieces constructed to create a giant open mouth. Say “Ahhhh”!! Crossovers in perspective saw prop teeth ‘extracted” from the set to become a required obstacle for the vehicle to overcome. The team’s design and creation of a dental device to save the world was ingenious. The device served brilliantly to integrate the reaction into the solution to the Problem. A creative dance routine also enhanced the team’s theme: “Floss, floss, baby!
Problem 2 Division 2 – Dolley Madison Library, McLean, VA
This team showed exceptional risk-taking and creativity in their engineering of all three segments of their network device. Each segment of the device employed multiple mechanisms and energy sources to transmit the information seamlessly from one segment to the next with no team member involvement. Each segment was designed with a multi-step process that activated the following segment, separate from the transfer of the message. Information hovered in the air over the fairy godmother’s magic wand, rushed down the seven dwarves’ mine shaft in a magnet-driven cart, and flew when Robin Hood’s “bow and arrow-plane” was launched.
The Top 5 finishers in any Problem Category:
| World Champion for Problem 1,Division 1 Steuart Weller Elementary From Ashburn who placed first place overall. |
| Problem 2, Div II team from Swanson Middle School in Arlington who placed third overall out of two sub-divisions. |
| Problem 3, Div I”Go Petra” Team from Rosa Lee Carter Elementary, Ashburn. |
| Problem 3,Div 1 McNair Elementary Herndon. |
| Problem 3, Div III team from Battlefield High Scool in Haymarket who place 7th overall. |
| Problem 5, Div III team from Stone Bridge High school in Ashburn who placed 10th overall. |
| Primary Schools McNair Elementary, Herndon |
| Waples Mill Elementary, from Oakton |