Two teams composed of Octorara Area School District (OASD) students recently competed at the state STEM Design Challenge in Harrisburg.

One team, comprising Octorara Intermediate School students Nathan Campos, Eli King and Seamus Ralston, used the idea of turning electronic pollution into sustainable "bricks" made from discarded phones, laptops and other electronics.

"E-waste is really terrible for the environment," said Nathan, a member of team E-Bricks. "(E-Waste) never decays. (Our solution) is better for the environment."

The two Octorara teams qualified for the state competition, held on May 8 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, by winning a regional competition hosted by the Chester County Intermediate Unit in March.

Working in teams of three to four, the students were presented with the prompt to build a sustainable production machine in accordance with the United Nations' regulations.

More specifically, the students had to design a section of a factory that uses sustainable practices and then showcase how their functioning machine works, highlighting how it supports environmentally responsible production. Students began preparing for this task in January, spending 30 to 45 minutes of class time on the project per day.

Team E-Bricks earned an honorable mention in the elementary school division, which was won by Dallas School District.

The students described the competition room as being full of teams from all over the commonwealth.

"I don't know about them, but I was really focused on our work," said Seamus, who noted the team's prime location on the outskirts of the facility, not surrounded by teams on all sides. "I wasn't worrying about what other people were doing."

Another Octorara unit, Team Citrax, competed in the middle school division. Middle school students Ryan Mitman, Merritt Zavacki, Gavin Bowen and Haydin Yoon took part. Merritt, a two-time Chester County champion, was competing at the state event for the second consecutive year.

"We had to make a part of a factory that used sustainable practices like wind energy, solar or water," said Gavin. "You could use any of those. Personally, we used a lot of them."

Both teams used K'Nex pieces to physically build their solutions.

"We also design it," Haydin said. "We design it beforehand. Sometimes we draw it out and kind of build it into compatibility."

Haydin detailed that the group was originally planning a product that would clean moldy or dirty fruit, but ultimately decided that it was not feasible.

At both the state and regional competitions, students had/will have two hours to recreate their product for judging. All products must fit on a 6-foot table, and students must submit design notebooks and blueprints for viewing.

The STEM Design Challenge began in 2010 as the brainchild of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Since then, it has grown to be a statewide event that more than 5,000 students participate in annually.