Chicago, Ill. — The Ripley County Engineering Academy (RCEA), Division II winner of the Regional Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, tied for second place at the 2018 National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest held on April 21 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The task for the 30th Anniversary Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was to “Pour a Bowl of Cereal.”
“I was very impressed by the way in which this team worked together to overcome challenges and excel at Nationals,” Cheryll Obendorf, GPS executive director, said. “This team was the only team in the National Contest to achieve a perfect technical score of 100, which catapulted them to the top tier. Everyone in our area should be very proud of this team.”
The 2018 National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was held over the weekend of April 21-22 and featured 40 Apprentice, Division I, Division II, and Division III teams from around the nation. Teams were challenged to make the simple act of pouring a bowl of cereal comical and very complicated. RCEA’s “Cereal Factory” themed machine included over 70 steps, colorful artwork, an interactive presentation, and the successful pouring of milk and cereal to complete the task successfully.
“It was a very different task than anything we’ve ever done especially because we were pouring milk,” commented Rebekah Dodge, team captain. “It was pretty amazing to see a bunch of people with the same interests supporting each other and having our machine come together for this moment.”
The first national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest was launched in 1988. Nationwide television, radio and printed media attention promotes the growth of the contest to make it bigger and better each year.
“I look at this as being even bigger than STEM,” commented Jennifer George, granddaughter of Rube Goldberg. “It’s teamwork. It’s trial and error. The kids are amazing. The machines are fantastic. It’s like Halloween meets the Science room. It’s a marvelous thing to watch!”
