Forest Acres Elementary Team Wins Jet Toy Challenge

Forty-eight 5th-grade design teams and their balloon-powered toy cars competed at the 2013 SDPC Jet Toy Challenge on Tuessday, and a team from Forest Acres Elementary School raced to the top.

The winning team in the performance race was “The Riptides” from Stacy Bullard’s fifth grade class. The  team members were Lexi Greer, Jamie Kay, Maggie McCord and Christian Prins.

Another team from Forest Acres also took second place: “The Smoking Hot Wheels” team from Jeanie Thomas’ class with team members Isaac Childers, Sean Carr, Karlyn Moore and Sunny Ennis.

The “Mustache Sway” team from Six Mile Elementary took third place with teeam members Karson James, Jordan King, Jonah Burkett and Dylan Lollis from Susan Orr’s class.

In the JetToy Challengee, a fictitious toy company asks students to provide a variety of designs for a new line of balloon-powered vehicles that will appeal to other children. The vehicles are made from inexpensive, common materials. Working in design teams, students build and test model JetToys using different nozzles. Then, they collect and analyze data to understand the effect of nozzle size on the performance of the toys. Performance is judged based on distance the cars can roll, how straight the cars travel, and how well the cars perform under added weight.

The first aand second place teams wi ll advance to the regional cchallenge, competing with teams from Anderson 1, Anderson 2, Anderson 3, Anderson 4, Anderson 5 and Oconee school districcts. The regional competition, held at Daniel High School on March 1, will determine which team will advance to international competition in Detroit.

Teams were also rewarded based on the design of their cars. The winner of the Artistic Design competitions was a tie between “The Smoking Hot Wheels” team and the “Hot Spot” team from Central Elementary School. The “Hot Spot” team members were Addison Culver, Hannah Miller, and Tea Garza
from Rick Freeze’s class.