A record number of area middle school students from Clarion, Venango and Jefferson counties on Thursday participated in the annual Intermediate Unit 6 STEM Design Challenge, which this year was held at the Clarion County YMCA.
“We registered 126 students. … Fortunately, the YMCA was able to help,” said Kelsi Wilcox Boyles, education program specialist with Intermediate Unit 6. “In the past we held the competition at the IU 6 building, but we needed more space.”
The STEM challenge is open to students in grades 4 through 8. The nine participating school districts were Allegheny-Clarion Valley, Brookville, Clarion, Clarion-Limestone, Cranberry, North Clarion, Oil City, Redbank Valley and Union.
The session began with a welcome and ice-breaker followed by a build time and presentation to the judges.
After a lunch provided by the Clarion Conservation District, there was a peer review of the projects.
Each team prepares a presentation on its model and how the challenge is answered.
The projects were judged on creativity, teamwork, challenge success, design and presentation.
Awards were presented to the top three teams in each grade level.
The winners will advance to the state competition on May 3 at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.