Rio Vista Elementary School students in Cecilia Lorett’s fifth-grade class tested their design and engineering skills by participating in this year’s Fluor Engineering Challenge.
The annual educational challenge was created to help educators meet the latest standards for science and engineering literacy and is open to kindergarten to 12th-grade students from around the world. It also gives students a chance to win $1,000 for their schools just by participating in the event.
This year’s challenge was developed by engineers from Fluor’s Houston office as part of the company’s annual employee competition held in celebration of Engineers’ Week.
With help from Science Buddies, the employee challenge was adapted to provide students with an opportunity to experience how real-life engineers design solutions.
“Thanks to our innovative partnership with Science Buddies, we’re pleased to be able to share this fun and engaging resource with students across the globe to provide a glimpse into this rewarding and thought-provoking profession,” said Mark Landry, Fluor Corporation’s senior vice president and chief of human resources officer in a statement.
Using materials like plastic cups, tape, pencils and rulers, the Rio Vista students designed and built a device to launch balls as far as possible and designed another device to catch it.
This year, one team from Rio Vista made up of fifth grade students Brianna Winters and Madison Rodriguez was one of three teams from the United States to win the Fluor Engineering Challenge’s $1,000 prize.
The prize can now be used to support in-school or afterschool programs at Rio Vista Elementary.
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