May 18, 1998
Boulder Daily Camera
by Katy Human
This team
of sixth-graders from Summit Middle School took first place in regional
competition for projects using science and technology to solve community
problems. The team's project, which would use heating coils to melt snow
in a bust intersection, will be in national competition at Disney World.
Working on their model of the intersection and surrounding South Boulder
neighborhood are team members, from left, James Norton, Corinne D'Ippolito,
Eric Hansford and Paul Franz. Photo by Marty Caivano, Daily Camera
James Norton, 10, hatched the idea while his mom drove him to school last winter. She carefully navigated an intersection covered in snow and ice and crowded with kids crossing the streets.
The corner of Grinnell Avenue and Knox Drive in South Boulder is often a problem when it snows: City plows rarely clear the area, and bumpy ice creates a transportation and pedestrian hazard.
"My mom remembered that about nine years ago, a kid was killed near Whittier (Elementary School); he was pinned between two cars that slid on ice," James said.
James and three friends decided to try to do something about the risk. The students' detailed proposal to warm the intersection with underground heating coils has earned them a spot in the final round of a national competition in "community innovation."
When James began worrying about icy streets, he and three other sixth graders at Summit Middle School were already looking for a project for the Bayer/National Science Foundation Award in Community Innovation national competition that they'd just heard about through Summit teacher Mery Molenaar.
Judges look for students who come up with projects that creatively use science and technology to solve community problems.
So James, Corinne D'Ippolito, Paul Franz and Eric Hansford developed a plan to make the intersection safer for the hundreds of school children that cross it every day. As semifinalists, the kids will travel to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., next month to present their project to a panel of judges — and Epcot Center visitors. The Summit team will compete against nine other teams of students in sixth through eighth grades.
Last week, the kids gathered at Eric's home after school to work on a wood and paint model of South Boulder that they'll use to show their audience the lay of the land in their neighborhood.
They've also built a prototype heating coil to demonstrate for the judges. The team came up with its design after talking with various experts in the city — a process they all said was valuable.
"We had to learn to call contractors and City Council members and other people on the phones," Corinne said.
After consulting a few experts and learning about several potential designs, the kids chose an electrical heating design that seemed most likely to work well in a large intersection.
The team that wins first place will take home $20,000 in U.S. savings bonds, with $12,000 going to second place and $4,000 to third.
"You can't use it until you're 18, so you can use it in college," Paul said.
The nationwide competition [is] sponsored by the Bayer Corporation, the National Science Foundation, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and Discover Magazine.
More than half the students who have competed in the competitions are girls, and about 30 percent are minorities — groups often under-represented in science and technology.