Two Vanderlyn Elementary School fifth-grade students converted America’s favorite squishy snack into flying projectiles, which netted them a third-place win in the Georgia Elementary Science Olympiad on May 3.
Liam Harvey and Alex Henson were one of only two DeKalb County School District teams to ascend the podium after placing third in the “Gummy Bear Launch.” It was a particularly satisfying end for the school’s coach, Sumati Jayaraman, who is retiring from Vanderlyn at the end of the year.
“They wanted to bring this home for Mrs. Sumi,” proud parent Nicole Harvey said in an interview with Rough Draft Atlanta. “All of the students love her, and she is the best of the best.”
For the competition, each team had 15 minutes to build a catapult out of 10 jumbo craft sticks, nine rubber bands, and hot glue. Teams who completed construction before the end of the allotted time were given the opportunity to test out their launcher.
Each team was given two chances, using just two fingers, to launch their gummy bears towards a bullseye eight meters (about 27 feet) away.
“Most teams designed a stackable launcher with the 10 sticks, but Liam and Alex realized for the Gummy Bear to travel eight meters, they needed to build an A-frame catapult,” Harvey said. “Their first launch landed 20 centimeters away from the bullseye, so they worked as a team and made adjustments.”
The team’s second launch landed 6.5 centimeters from the bullseye, which is about the length of an AA battery.
Vanderlyn’s team qualified for the state tournament by finishing third overall at the district Science Olympiad tournament held in late March at McNair Middle School.
Along with the Gummy Bear Launch, 17 other contests were held at the state competition held at Kennesaw State University, including such categories as Starry Starry Night, Disease Detectives, Crime Busters, and Rock Hound.
Harvey said Alex and Liam, who have been friends since Kindergarten, had been honing their Science Olympiad skills since last September.
“It was such a learning experience for them,” she said. “During district [competition], their sticks kept breaking so they had to learn that it was all about the angles, and that they had to build it calmly and use teamwork.”
Along with the Gummy Bear Launch, 17 other competitions were held, including such categories as Starry Starry Night, Disease Detectives, Crime Busters, and Rock Hound.
Three other Vanderlyn teams placed in the Top 10, with the “No Bones About It” team of Audrey Stebbins and Noori Welch coming in sixth place. The “Deep Blue Sea” team of Shipp Walters and Max Lahm claimed seventh place. And the “Data Crunchers” with Bella Brown and Adhvik Ravikumar recorded a ninth-place finish.
“Liam said the best part of the competition was jumping off the stage and high-fiving their teammates,” Harvey said.
