Howell Teams Roll At Army STEAM Tank Competition

HOWELL, NJ — Howell students showed off their creativity and their technology skills, taking home two first-place awards and two third-place awards at the U.S. Army/New Jersey School Boards Association STEAM Tank Challenge.

Aldrich Elementary School students Madison Vigliotti, Reese Ertel and Casey Reinknecht took first place in the elementary school competition for their invention "Strechers," an expandable dress shoe for children.

Meanwhile, the team of Cassidy Brennan, Samantha Ngo, Kira Zimmer and Caitlyn Zito from Howell Middle School South took first place in the middle school competition, for their Cell Cycle, a mobile game innovation as an incentive to recycle.

A team from Memorial School who invented the Smart Collar 3000, a smart collar to help bring home lost pets, took third in the elementary school contest, while a second Middle School South team took third in that contest for their Smarty T trash can, which uses sensory technology to improve recycling.

The teams, three of which are all girls, presented their inventions at the New Jersey School Boards Association competition Oct. 22. They learned their placements during the New Jersey Education Association convention on Nov. 7.

The STEAM Tank Challenge, created and sponsored by the school boards association and the U.S. Army, encourages students in the areas of STEAM: science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. It is a statewide competition that challenges students to invent something new, modify an existing product, or identify a situation or problem that requires resolution.

Aldrich School computer teacher Evelyn Kearney, along with media specialists Erin Gorski and Jennifer Stenard guided the Aldrich students through the competition.

At Howell Middle School South, teacher Josh Langenberger supervised the two teams, and at Memorial School Skye Donzelli and Stenard supervised that team. Clare Engle, director of digital learning and innovation for the Howell schools, also assisted with teams.

The third-place team from Howell Middle School South who created the Smarty T garbage can are Kayley Hassett, Skylar Starr, Jami VanOrden, Emma Diroff, and Allison Zurey.

For Aldrich and Memorial schools, the yearlong competition began with 310 elementary school submissions. Last spring, 190 submissions progressed to regionals. From there, 30 advanced to the finals, which were held in Atlantic City at the end of October.

As a result of the first-place finish, Aldrich School has received a grant in the amount of $2,500.

The Howell Middle School South team got the opportunity to meet with experts from Apple Education to discuss their winning Cell Cycle innovation.

Take a look at some of the highlights from the schools' Twitter feeds:

Note: If you have the names of the students who were members of the third-place team from Memorial School, please email me at karen.wall@patch.com. Follow Howell Patch on Facebook.