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McGinty forced to explain 1st-to-college claim

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$6.5 million in Luzerne County capital projects pitched

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Alyssa Lane on the electric shovel, Phuc Nguyen on the nail-fretted ukulele and, well, anyone willing to sit on that caj&#243;n drum and beat percussion.</p><p>&#8220;I said they could make a shed metal band,&#8221; Meyers High School teacher Keith Eberts kidded. &#8220;They made their instruments from stuff you find in your shed.&#8221;</p><p>Despite Lane never playing a guitar and having no memory of using a shovel, her instrument won first place in the school&#8217;s fourth annual Butwin Elias Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) awards Thursday, netting the sophomore $1,500. And, yes, it really does plug into an amp.</p><p>A single string stretches from handle to blade, where knobs control volume and treble. Part of the socket had been ground away and the wooden shaft sanded flat as a guitar neck (no frets).</p><p>&#8220;I have no musical talent whatsoever,&#8221; Lane said with a laugh as she plucked the opening riff of &#8220;Smoke on the Water.&#8221;</p><p>She also had no previous experience with a belt sander or a grinder, which she dubbed &#8220;the best tool ever&#8221; thanks to all the sparks.</p><p>The contest &#8212; named after two teachers &#8212; and the reward money come courtesy of the Iseman Foundation. &#8220;Everyone got at least $50 for participating,&#8221; Adam Iseman, Meyers class of 2007, said. &#8220;We gave out a total of $2,875 this year, I think.&#8221;</p><p>Adam is the son of Dave Iseman, a former Times Leader managing editor.</p><p>Adam works for Apple now, and the foundation is working to expand the contest, both by getting more money to give out and by setting up a fine arts award next year.</p><p>Entries are judged by a panel that looks for the best execution. Students have wide latitude on the types of projects, and can work on more than one.</p><p>Other entries? Junior Pablo Franco built a remote control car with &#8220;wood I found back there&#8221; (pointing to the neighboring wood shop). Iseman noted the motorized parts &#8220;were the same ones I used when I was here.&#8221;</p><p>Phuc Nguyen crafted his tiny ukulele with nails for frets. He also made the caj&#243;n drum.</p><p>Forest Nguyen opted for an elliptical pool table with a single pocket. Being an ellipse, if you set a ball in the right place and hit it without too much force, it should sink every time.</p><p>Senior Tim Snyder made a model car powered by a Stirling engine &#8212; a Campbell&#8217;s Tomato Soup can with a wood piston driven by the heat of two tea candles.</p><p>And senior Matt Yekel created a coffee table that doubles as a Nintendo game controller &#8212; he demonstrated by playing Super Mario Brothers. Along with using a 3-D printer for the arrows on the four-way button, he used a router, a wood planer, a hole saw, band saw, drill press and jig saw.</p><p>Sounds like he&#8217;s ready for a career in carpentry.</p><p>&#8220;No,&#8221; he said flatly. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to study history.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alyssa Lane, a 10th-grade student at Meyers, placed first in the Butwin Elias Science and Technology awards with her electric guitar shovel Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TTL060316STEM1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alyssa Lane, a 10th-grade student at Meyers, placed first in the Butwin Elias Science and Technology awards with her electric guitar shovel Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TTL060316STEM2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tim Snyder uses a coffee table that doubles as a video-game controller to play Super Mario Brothers that his classmate Matt Yekel made. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TTL060316STEM2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Tim Snyder uses a coffee table that doubles as a video-game controller to play Super Mario Brothers that his classmate Matt Yekel made. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></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 guitar shovel and tin-can engine big hits at Butwin Elias Science and Technology awards