Students At Mark Twain Elementary Win STEM Award

Students from Mark Twain Elementary are being recognized for their creative problem-solving skills.

They beat out 19 teams from across the country to win the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation’s annual STEM Challenge.

Their task was to work as a team to create a STEM-based board game that incorporates lights, movement and sound.

The winning game is called Rubber Duck Cleans Up Muck, where players gather supplies to defeat germs all while learning about types of germs and how to combat them.

The students said they chose the theme of germs because of their experience in the pandemic.

"Because of COVID, I decided to let kids know to watch out for germs," said one of the team members, Erica.

Their teacher, Lisa VanBiber, says it's wonderful to see them take their COVID experiences and channel it into a fun, colorful and educational game.

The students learned technical skills, like how to make motors and other electronic components do what they want them to, but the most valuable thing they learned was the importance of hard work and cooperation.

"Number one: Teamwork," VanBiber says about why her team won. "Great team synergy, lots of hard work. They gave up their recess time two days a week and they really got along with each other and that helped the whole process go so smoothly,” VanBiber continued.

The $800 in prize money will go to the school's STEM Lab.

Students will select how the prize money is used.