2013 District Activity Calendar - Copley-Fairlawn City Schools

CHS Engineering and Design Students Win State Awards for Wind
Turbine Design, Construction and Power Output
On Saturday, March 23, the Engineering
and Design class entered two teams into
the Kidwind turbine challenge held at the
Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. The
students’ hard work during class, lunch,
after school and during weekly Wednesday
evening Technology Club meetings paid off
with winning results. Team one, consisting
of lead engineer Rachel Hopkins, Dimitri
Karakis, Ben Evankovich, Katie Casida,
and John Hawkins took fi rst place overall,
winning two trophies and 175 dollars. The
team took fi rst place in the power output
category by generating forty-seven thousand milliwatts per minute. This is enough to charge
six cell phones simultaneously. They also received the Judges choice award for outstanding
performance, knowledge, and documentation. Team two, consisting of Alex Klimo, Thomas
Kimmins, Jose Suarez, and Chris Dugan came in second place winning a trophy and 75 dollars.
The team came in second for power output as well, generating forty-three thousand milliwatts per
minute.
Both teams worked for two months on the research and development of the most effective wind
turbine design. The teams used their research fi ndings to design the turbine and housing in
SolidWorks, a CAD software program. Each team created several blades from different materials,
including plastic blades made on one of the Engineering class’s 3D printers and other blades that
were sculpted from wood. The students spent hours testing the various blades and refi ning their
designs for the optimum output. The environmental impact of their designs was also researched,
and although their turbines had the most output in the competition, the noise of the turbines was
minimal.
High School Students Excel in Chinese
On Saturday,
May 11, four
Copley High
School students
who studied
Chinese with Ms.
Pingfen Sung,
participated in
“The First Ohio
K-12 Chinese
Speech Contest” sponsored by the Confucius
Institute at Cleveland State University and Ohio
Association of Teachers of Chinese. Jaret Waters
won the third prize and Yui Kondo won the merit
award in the Beginner Level, and Sarah McLean
won the third prize in the Intermediate Level.
The students received Chinese books, Chinese
educational DVDs, and beautiful certifi cates for
their accomplishment.
Because of their success at the state level, both teams were entered into the National Online
Competition and are awaiting favorable results. Their trophies are displayed in the window of
the Engineering and Design classroom. Next year, the teams hope to compete in a National
Competition that will be held in Washington D.C. Congratulations to the Engineering and Design
class students, the Technology Club, and teacher and advisor, Mr. Kirby Harder.