Connor Ruddick, Ashley Harris, Daniel Talbert, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds, Jonathon Kirner, Ben Anzis (not present James Talbert, Jacob Ramsey-Smith).
A team from Marshalltown High School competed in the Real World Design Challenge Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Science Center in Des Moines.
The Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) is an annual competition that provides high school students the opportunity to work on real world engineering challenges in a team environment. Each year, student teams are asked to address a challenge that confronts our nation’s leading industries. Students utilize professional engineering software to develop their solutions and will also generate written reports and presentations that convincingly demonstrate the value of their solutions. The RWDC provides students with opportunities to apply the lessons of the classroom to the technical problems that are being faced in the workplace.
This year’s challenge had students designing a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to find an injured/missing child. Marshalltown’s team, comprised of students Ben Anzis, Ashley Harris, Jonathon Kirner, Jacob Ramsey-Smith, Connor Ruddick, Daniel Talbert, and James Talbert, developed a model for a drone system that would recover lost children in the mountains of New Mexico. The team spent countless hours meeting with engineers from Iowa State University and using aerospace engineering software to design their plane and components in order to minimize search time and cost.
“Although MHS wasn’t one of the top [two] teams, we are confident that the points we earned placed us among the top four,” said Susan Fritzell, MHS Extended Learning Program teacher.
Seven teams presented at the state competition, with Davenport West High placing first.
