Thayer Central students, Traven Virus, Gunner Mumford, and Triston Wells competed at the state Science Olympiad competition in Lincoln on Saturday, April 23rd. The team placed 10th out of 26 teams.
In Wright Stuff Traven and Gunner built a rubber band powered plane to stay in the air for the greatest time. The team placed 4th in this event. The team of Gunner and Triston placed 2nd in gravity vehicle. The team had to build a car that would go down a ramp, over a speed bump, and stop 3.75 m from the start line. Their car stopped 11 cm away from the stopping point. In ping pong parachute, Triston and Gunner placed 2nd. They had to build a bottle rocket to carry a ping pong ball up and parachute down as slow as possible. They got three launches and the best two were scored. In trajectory, Gunner and Traven built a catapult to launch a racquetball two different distances. Their combined displacement got them a 2nd place finish. In the bridge competition, Triston and Gunner brought home the state championship with their design. The goal was to build a bridge to hold 15 kg (33lbs). They built a bridge that was 17 g and held 14.4 kg for an efficiency of 847.06.