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Students catapult to second place
Photo Credit: Maria Tuadi
Christa Ky, Jason Kerr, Berly Trinh, Phil Elliot, and Aparna Baranwal fan their money after snatching the second place prize. The team created a length-defying device.
Written by Maria Tuadi, News Editor
Filled with groups of panicky Physics students from all over the district, the Cerritos High School gym housed the 2009 Building Contest last Friday.
“It’s an opportunity for students to physically build things. They do brainwork all year round and this lets them have some fun with the things they’ve learned,” Phil Elliot, Physics teacher, said.
Gahr took second place and its triumphant team of juniors, Aparna Baranwal, Christa Ky, Jason Kerr, and Berly Trinh, received $75 for their efforts.
“Yay! We won,” Baranwal said as she jumped around celebrating with her teammates.
The objective of this year’s contest was to build a device, using a bag of given materials, that could be operated by one’s feet and could launch a ping-pong ball. The team that sent the ball the farthest distance was declared the winner. Although the team was happy about their accomplishment, they could not help but feel disappointment at the judges’ ruling.
“One of Cerritos’ teams ping-pong ball flew towards the bleachers and they measured where the ball rolled, claiming that it was part of the ball’s projection, but that’s not how they measured other teams’ ball projections,” Ky said.
Some teams were not as successful at reaching the goal as Kerr’s team.
“When one of the teams from some other school was being judged, I was sitting down in the bleachers and I heard a loud explosion, looked up in one direction and all of a sudden, snap, the ball hit my hand and landed on my lap,” Hanny Tanama (12) said with a shocked look on her face.
Many teams had difficulties with the task.
“Our trouble is that we keep coming up with new ideas,” Marvah Farooqui (11) said while brainstorming with her teammates, juniors, Pooja Vaidya, Mahira Godil, and Uzma Karwa.
One team revealed their strategy toward building their catapulting device.
“We’re going to put a ball on the stick and use a rubber band attached to a bag filled with air to release the stick, which will hopefully catapult the ball through the air after we step on the bag,” Maxwell Stout (12) said as he and his senior teammates, Kelli Lamb, Monique Diaz, and Kyle Santelio, tested out their gadget.
The challenge to build a foot-operated catapult proved to be a tough one.
“We have to squeeze our brains out to figure out this thing,” Deborah Seoung (11) said as she sifted through the materials with her fellow junior teammates, Serena Chu, and Aishah Majeed.
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