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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; Fill a room full of fourth- and fifth-grade students and bags of K&#8217;nex and you get, well, pagodas, moon stations, Big Ben-esque towers and a high-rise with a solar-powered robot hanging around the upper floors on the wrong side of the walls.</p><p>&#8220;We put one guy inside and one guy outside,&#8221; Casey Noone explained of the construct he and and classmates from Wyoming Area School District&#8217;s Montgomery Avenue Elementary School were building. &#8220;It&#8217;s all just for fun.&#8221;</p><p>Well, not exactly. The 17 teams of youngsters snapping together the colorful plastic rods and grippy bits were officially competing in the Pennsylvania STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) K&#8217;nex Design Challenge. The winner here heads to a state contest.</p><p>This year&#8217;s challenge: Make a building at least one meter high that incorporates eco-friendly features &#8212; thus the &#8220;cleaning&#8221; robots with a solar panel which, Noone&#8217;s teammate Anthony Acernese confessed, was not an official K&#8217;nex piece. &#8220;We modified it so it would clip on,&#8221; he said, flipping the little panel to show two plastic loops that had been snipped open.</p><p>The &#8220;meter-high&#8221; minimum mattered with these youngsters &#8212;many of them weren&#8217;t much taller than their creations. As the two-hour time limit neared, more and more stood on seats to add the final touches.</p><p>Twins Matthew and Christopher Maciejczyk, on a team from Wyoming Area Catholic School, explained why they had to add bracing for parts of their &#8220;Big Ben&#8221; building when some sections sagged. But the important question was, did they ever trick their teachers.</p><p>&#8220;On April Fool&#8217;s day we switched, and the teacher never noticed,&#8221; Christopher smiled</p><p>&#8220;The only time you can tell them apart is on casual day,&#8221; teammate Aiden O&#8217;Haire said &#8220;when they wear different colored shirts.&#8221;</p><p>But Christopher didn&#8217;t agree. Moving closer to his twin, he pointed out &#8220;I&#8217;m a little taller.&#8221;</p><p>At the table occupied by the team from Hazleton Area School District&#8217;s Heights-Terrace, Brianna Kennedy and Emily Trella posed for photos with their tower, both sporting kimono-style garb. Teammate Matthew Cusatis popped up a moment later in a karate gi complete with blue belt.</p><p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s our business flyer,&#8221; Brianna said, handing over a glossy pamphlet touting the eco-friendly &#8220;Pagoda K&#8217;nextions&#8221;</p><p>This group didn&#8217;t have to do a lot of math regarding their projects, but their older counterparts &#8212; grades six through eight competed Friday &#8212; were required to make an inventory of pieces and an estimated cost.</p><p>The pagoda, which included an oriental-style backdrop painted with help of eighth-grade students, took first place when the winners were announced later in the day. Two teams from Dallas School District tied for second, while another Dallas team tied with a Tunkhannock Area Middle School Team for third.</p><p>Most of those competing said they also play with K&#8217;nex at home, but a common refrain accompanied the admission &#8212; one the Hatfield, Pa.-based K&#8217;nex probably didn&#8217;t want to hear: They prefer to play with a competing construction toy.</p><p>&#8220;&#8221;Oh, yeah,&#8221; Noone said, &#8220;I play with Legos!&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Rich Mackrell, Luzerne Intermediate Unit math curriculum specialist, checks on the team from Tunkhannock Area Middle School &#8212; from left, Kaya Hannon, left, Duke Moyer, and Zak Keiser, all fifth-graders &#8212; participating in Tuesday&#8217;s STEM K&#8217;nex competition at the LIU Kingston building. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_knex01-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Rich Mackrell, Luzerne Intermediate Unit math curriculum specialist, checks on the team from Tunkhannock Area Middle School &#8212; from left, Kaya Hannon, left, Duke Moyer, and Zak Keiser, all fifth-graders &#8212; participating in Tuesday&#8217;s STEM K&#8217;nex competition at the LIU Kingston building. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_knex03-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Fifth-graders from Heights Terrace Elementary in Hazleton, Matthew Cusatis, left, Brianna Kennedy, and Emily Trella, go over their narrative for the pagoda they built out of K&#8217;NEX during a building competition on Tuesday at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_knex03-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Fifth-graders from Heights Terrace Elementary in Hazleton, Matthew Cusatis, left, Brianna Kennedy, and Emily Trella, go over their narrative for the pagoda they built out of K&#8217;NEX during a building competition on Tuesday at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_knex04-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Students from Wyoming Area Montgomery Avenue school build a windmill out of K&#8217;nex during Tuesday&#8217;s competition at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston. Pictured clockwise from bottom are Anthony Acernese, Casey Noone, Joseph Marranca, and Drew Dixon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_knex04-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Students from Wyoming Area Montgomery Avenue school build a windmill out of K&#8217;nex during Tuesday&#8217;s competition at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit in Kingston. Pictured clockwise from bottom are Anthony Acernese, Casey Noone, Joseph Marranca, and Drew Dixon. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>STEM K&#8217;nex Design Challenge held</subheadMeta></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>

Kids, K’nex, compete! Pennsylvania STEM K’nex Design Challenge held