The 2015 4-H Engineering Challenge, sponsored by EnlightenSC, attracted more than 240 students to Orangeburg in April. Students ages nine and above competed in five different disciplines that ranged from robotics to bridge-building.
Katie Rishebarger, organizer of this year’s competition and coordinator of 4-H’s Science on the Move program, hopes to create an even larger event in 2016. “Next year, we want to make the competitions more career focused by bringing in engineering professionals in fields related to each competition,” she said. “Then, they can talk to students about how their interests can translate into a career that they would enjoy.”
Winners of the 2015 competition:
12 Inch Bridge Building Contest
1st Place: Harshitha Visikamalla, Camille Young
2nd Place: Arjun Mote, Max Shiverdeck, Logan Grilliott, Tarik Sonmez
3rd Place: Braden Durst, Himanshu Pallath, Aiden Lemmon
14 Inch Bridge Building Contest
1st Place: Elton Clark, Javon Prioleau, Breansay Ownes
Egg Lofter Rocket Contest
1st Place: Timothy Brown
2nd Place: Havva Dokmeci
3rd Place: Nathan Crider
Energy Challenge
1st Place: John Nagy, Gabe Cooper, Liam Quan, Donald Tomlin
2nd Place: Zaire Goiurdine
3rd Place: Ethan Smith, Benjamin Taylor, Owen Hart
GPS Contest
1st Place: Richard Kroninger, Gray Stewart
2nd Place: McKenna Lapierre, Alexis Witherspoon, Suma Ravi
3rd Place: Sumukh Paspuleti
LEGO Robotics Competition
Performance Award: Kayley Hudson, Kiara Moreno, Sathvik Bodepudi
Innovation Award: Nathan Goodwin, Pedro Rodriguez
Teamwork Award: Esa Khan, Wasif Johar