Governor Mifflin students win state STEM design challenge.

We often hear the phrase “the children are our future,” but four students at Brecknock Elementary School are on a mission to prove that saying right.

On Thursday, May 19, students sat cross-legged on the floor of Hayley DeSantis’ classroom peering up at a Zoom projected on the whiteboard. The class erupted in shouts and applause as the words “Brecknock Elementary, Carbon Capture Kids” appeared on the screen.

The Carbon Capture Kids, represented by Jace Dorta, Gwen McNabb, Aubrey Patton, and Summer Stoltzfus, had just been named first-place winners in the 2022 PA State STEM Design Competition in the 4^th-6^th grade division.

“I was so excited to see our names on the screen,” said Patton, “I still can’t believe it!”

The 2022 PA State STEM Design Competition challenged students to either improve or create a form of transportation using K’Nex, a popular creative building toy. The students proposed an improved design of a freight truck that fights climate change by capturing its own CO2 emissions, which would then be offloaded and used to create stronger concrete.

The student’s concept also won first place in the Berks County Elementary K’Nex Design Competition in February, marking the fifth consecutive year that Governor Mifflin students had taken home the prize.

“I wasn’t sure that we were going to win,” said McNabb, “We won the Berks County competition, but this was a whole state competition with a lot more schools.”

The team is led by Hayley DeSantis, a teacher at Brecknock Elementary.

"I am really proud of all the hard work and dedication our K'NEX teamed displayed while participating in this competition. These students rose to the challenge and created an innovative way to help fight climate change by reimagining the way we transport freight and finding a use for stored CO2" said DeSantis.

Brecknock Elementary Principal Aaron Kopetsky concurred, stating “the students worked incredibly hard and should be so proud.”