Elk River STEM Club From St. John School Repeats As Champions | Elk River Star News

Team photo from school: Aiden Peterson, Benaiah Woltmann, Preston Kowsary, Ethan Burdick, Noah Tatkenhorst, Nick Carpenter, Abigail Woltmann, Nathan Inselmann.

Back row: Coach David Inselmann and Nick Carpenter. Front row: Noah Tatkenhorst, Abigail Woltmann, Ethan Burdick, Aiden Peterson, Benaiah Woltmann, Preston Kowsary. Not pictured: Nathan Inselmann.

Team photo from school: Aiden Peterson, Benaiah Woltmann, Preston Kowsary, Ethan Burdick, Noah Tatkenhorst, Nick Carpenter, Abigail Woltmann, Nathan Inselmann.

Back row: Coach David Inselmann and Nick Carpenter. Front row: Noah Tatkenhorst, Abigail Woltmann, Ethan Burdick, Aiden Peterson, Benaiah Woltmann, Preston Kowsary. Not pictured: Nathan Inselmann.

The St. John Stem Club became the Minnesota Engineering and Design Competition champions for the second year in a row on Aug. 8.

The competition was sponsored by Minnesota 4-H and was open to 4-H and non-4-H teams. For the first time since 2019, the competition was in-person and held at the University of St. Cloud. Teams from all around Minnesota competed in the event. At the competition, the grandson of Rube Goldberg, Geoffrey George, served as a judge and gave a presentation about the illustrations his grandfather created. He also talked about the history of Rube Goldberg competitions that started back in the 1950s.

The goal of the Engineering and Design Competition is to build a 10-to-20-step Rube Goldberg machine. The theme for this year’s competition was “Shine Your Light,” Saving Energy with Engineering. The two-step challenge involved turning on a light and turning it off again.

“At the competition, the team’s machine worked perfectly for the judges,” said David Inselmann, the team’s coach. “The team then showed the judges their team journal, gave a presentation on their machine, and answered questions. The team became the champion team and also won awards for their presentation and was voted by the other teams, and won the most unique machine award for their use of create materials.”

The Elk River team, which comprised eight members from third through sixth grades at St. John Lutheran School, designed a Rube Goldberg machine that started with a drone. The drone flew up and triggered an ultrasonic sensor on a Lego EV3 device that triggered a Lego gear assembly created with a worm gear to push the button to turn on a blinking light. A second worm gear assembly raised a Lego flat, releasing a marble that hit another marble, landed in a funnel, and triggered a lever. The lever released a large red ball that raced down a Hot Wheels track to release a number of Hot Wheels cars connected with string and washers. The last car triggered a lever on a hamster wheel and released a truck that pulled on a wooden ball that started a gear assembly made from K’nex. The gears released a magnet that was connected by magnetism to several metal marbles that fell in a cup connected to a bicycle wheel. The wheel turned and pulled a string that released a number of small marbles into Marble Works to trigger a number of dominoes. The last domino hit a mouse trap that was connected with string to release a lever and pulled up a Lego Duplo that released some marbles that hit a pressure sensor that triggered a worm gear assembly to turn the light off again.

“One of the benefits that I enjoy about Rube Goldberg is the perseverance and dedication the team demonstrated as it used the engineering and design process over a two-month period to create a machine that uses simple machines, energy transfers and programming to complete the objective,” Inselmann said. “Along the way, the team members learned about and developed different skills such as researching, brainstorming, designing, testing, keeping records, woodworking, writing, presenting, using power tools, programming, analytical and logical thinking, and leadership.”

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