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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; There were fine ideas from the high school students at Thursday&#8217;s regional Governor&#8217;s STEM Competition: Running heated waste water through pipes under roads to de-ice them, burnable bricks from recycled paper, alerting law enforcement of a problem by putting a finger in a scanner that transmits a message.</p><p>But then there was the Northwest Area High School team&#8217;s innovative approach to the &#8220;mystery box&#8221; challenge: Build an airplane that will fly an egg across the room and land in a bulls eye, shell intact.</p><p>Given paper, scissors, tape and glue, Anthony Latorre paused and suggested &#8220;What if we put the egg in the glue bottle?&#8221;</p><p>Within minutes glue from the cut bottle oozed over the table top, and Auston Simonson was blowing on his fingers, trying to dry the white gunk.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re a kindergarten class!&#8221; Josh Marr laughed.</p><p>The team considered using the provided strip of masking tape like a string to pull the craft back to the bulls eye if they overshot it.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not trying to complete the task,&#8221; Marr observed. &#8220;We&#8217;re trying to figure out a way around it.&#8221;</p><p>They started attaching the plastic bag the supplies came in as a parachute, and when that didn&#8217;t work, Latorre puffed the bag up and tied it shut, suggesting it could soften the landing.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re ruining the aerodynamics!&#8221; Zack Schwartz warned.</p><p>&#8220;Aerodynamics!&#8221; Marr mocked, pointing to the evolving project: An egg in a glue bottle wrapped in multiple layers of taped-up tissue paper. &#8220;It&#8217;s not an airplane, it&#8217;s a rock!&#8221;</p><p>Despite being the most ungainly creation among seven teams from five area high schools, the Northwest Area &#8220;airplane&#8221; (they taped on a set of wings at the last minute) tied for second in the mystery box challenge. Alas, coupled with their idea of warm waste water under our roads, it wasn&#8217;t enough to win the overall competition.</p><p>The theme this year was &#8220;Building a stronger Pennsylvania,&#8221; with the objective of designing a real-world innovation that would make the state a better place to live. All teams got $500 to help make their projects, according to Rich Mackrell, math curriculum specialist at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit where the regional contest was held.</p><p>The bulk of a team&#8217;s score came from a written explanation of their project and a live presentation. The mystery box challenge has nothing to do with those projects, but it does help demonstrate teamwork and innovation under pressure.</p><p>Who won the overall contest? One of three teams sent from Wilkes-Barre Area School District. The members &#8212; Elsa Romero, Gabby Nichols, Kyle Sattof, Kyle Ostrowski and Kenny Macko &#8212; pitched a clever device that monitors the heart rate. If something happens to unexpectedly make it soar near 160 beats per minute &#8212; a mugging, say &#8212; it turns on a wearable camera that fits on a shirt collar, hat or lapel, and records the events.</p><p>Called &#8220;Pro-Tech,&#8221; the device provides playback later to help a victim in identifying an attacker.</p><p>For winning, the team gets another $750 and a spot in the state finals, where the rewards are college scholarships.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Steven Darling, Hunter Hill and Ronald Ostrowski of Dallas demonstrate how their diversion wall would help in keeping acid mine drainage from contaminating ground water or streams </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021216govstem1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Steven Darling, Hunter Hill and Ronald Ostrowski of Dallas demonstrate how their diversion wall would help in keeping acid mine drainage from contaminating ground water or streams </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021216govstem2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Area student Jack Miller holds up a brick made of recycled paper that could be used as a heat source at the Governor&#8217;s STEM competition. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021216govstem2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes-Barre Area student Jack Miller holds up a brick made of recycled paper that could be used as a heat source at the Governor&#8217;s STEM competition. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021216govstem3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest Area students Josh Marr, Zack Schwartz, Anthony Latorre, Joseph Hall and Auston Simonson compete in the &#8220;mystery box&#8221; portion of the Governor&#8217;s STEM competition Thursday </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021216govstem3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Northwest Area students Josh Marr, Zack Schwartz, Anthony Latorre, Joseph Hall and Auston Simonson compete in the &#8220;mystery box&#8221; portion of the Governor&#8217;s STEM competition Thursday </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

The future of the Keystone state, and of flying eggs