Hamburg Area High School sent five students to compete in the regional STEM Competition at the Berks County Intermediate Unit in Reading on Feb. 1.
At 7:30 a.m. Lucas Hauck, Quinn Nabozny, Zachary Moser, Jacob Barr, and Naomi Singer were one of five teams in Berks County to compete for a chance to win cash prizes for their school and an opportunity to continue on to the state level competition.
The five students worked together for months to create their prototype: a water purification system meant to be used on trails and for disaster relief. After months of talking to their advisor, Mr. Greg King, and their mentor, Christina Crawford, the team was ready to compete.
In the morning the five teams took turns presenting to judges while demonstrating their prototype, its impact on their community, and their process of creating it. Each presentation could last up to a half hour before being cut off by the judges.
After enjoying lunch, the teams competed against one another in another competition meant to demonstrate their ability to work well together. Each team had to build a paper airplane that reached its target while keeping the egg in the cockpit. This unique play off of the classic egg-drop inspired creativity from all five teams.
After the judges tallied up the scores, the students from Blue Mountain Academy came out victorious as winners of the competition with their SAD Lamp prototype. Their lamp is meant to help people with seasonal affective disorder by mimicking sunlight, the lack of which is the main cause to the disease.
Naomi Singer is a sophomore at Hamburg High School.
