WHS team take grand prize in national design contest

Kalin Ngo and Robert Schill were part of a team that won the national "Build Big" contest.

Students of the Westlake High School STEM, Engineering & Technology Education Department earned top design awards in the Design Squad Nation Build Big Contest.

The team of Kalin Ngo, Robert Schill and Paul Poulos were the nationwide grand prize winners for their project “String Thing,” configured like a linear guitar that consists of several wooden boxes designed to play the classic piece “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” by J.S. Bach.

The team will receive a Cisco UltraHD Flip Camera and a video chat with Judy Lee and Adam Vollmer, hosts of the award winning TV show, Design Squad Nation. To see their project in action visit http://pbskids.org/designsquad/contest/index.html.

CNET.com also featured the winning design. See the story at http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20102370-1/kids-rubber-band-instrument-plays-bach-nets-prize/.

Sponsored by Design Squad Nation (of WGBH-TV in Boston), the Build Big Contest challenged teams to choose an activity from the Design Squad Nation website, form a team and build a super-big version. They were required to take a video of the working design and upload it to YouTube.

Other WHS finalists were Scott Michaud and Dane Rimko for their Paper Table Kick Stick Challenge project; Scott Hulver and Steve Orange for their compressed air powered Launch It project; and Jennifer Chern and Kalin Ngo for their Cardboard Furniture Living Room Set project.