ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WLVT) - Students in the Allentown School District competed in the regional Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at the Da Vinci Science Center on Friday.
The three winning teams came from Dodd Elementary, Mosser Elementary, and Lehigh Parkway. All three schools will compete in Indiana for the national competition. “The Rube Goldberg machine contest is a contest of creating a hilarious contraption that is extremely complicated to do a very simple job,” said Susan Linde with the science center. “So, these students were given materials using everyday objects in order to create a machine to do something simple, and the simple task this year was to turn off a light.”
“It was really stressful,” said 10-year old Gadiel Leon from Dodd Elementary. “But, you just got to know to keep your head in the game and like keep trying and trying until it works, and never give up.” PBS39 actually caught up with Leon and his classmates before competition day to see how they were feeling. “I have butterflies in my stomach and I’m really nervous,” said Jayla Rivera. “If we win, we go to Indiana. If we don’t, we know we tried hard.” Their hard work paid off, and their teacher, Lisa Brinks, commended the students. “It was a big deal for them to participate, and I got all of their permission slips immediately,” said Brinks. “The commitment level on the kids’ part, as well as the parents, was huge.”
The national competition takes place in Lawrenceburg, Ind. this April.
