CAZENOVIA — On Saturday, Jan. 28, all five student teams from Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) took home awards from the Micron Robotics Challenge hosted and presented by the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST).

Located in downtown Syracuse, the MOST organizes four “Design, Build & Compete” outreach programs and a regional science fair for students who live in Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Jefferson, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties.

The Jan. 28 program challenged teams of students to design, build, and test a prototype automated device to “Combat the effects of climate change.”

“Participating in challenges and competitions like this is invaluable to students and provides them with all kinds of exposure to STEM concepts,” said Jason Hyatt, who teaches technology, engineering design, and computer science at Cazenovia High School. “Oftentimes young people don’t know they would enjoy working in STEM fields or could excel in them until they have a chance to try them out, and an environment like this is a great way to do that.”

Hyatt added that he believes there is a common misunderstanding about STEM.

“Many people have the mistaken belief that you are either born with innate STEM abilities or you aren’t,” he said. “The reality is that the more you are exposed to and use these fields and concepts, the better you become at applying them. These opportunities give students a chance to take something from a conceptual understanding to a concrete and hands-on application level. We give them a chance to demonstrate their understanding of various topics and specific fields that help them grow as learners [and] that one day may provide a path to their professional careers. This opportunity gave students the chance to learn not just about the topic of robotics but also coding, constructing a model, problem-solving and the design process, how to work as a team, troubleshooting, presentation skills, how systems work, and more.”

In the competition’s Senior Division (grades 9-12), the two teams from Cazenovia High School took home first and second place.

Henri Mongeau, Seamus Enders, and Nathan Schierer teamed up to win first place for their build of a seed-spreading robot that would navigate through rows of existing crops and spread seeds to grow ground cover.

Mongeau said he enjoys STEM-related projects and activities because of the different skills and areas of knowledge that can be gained from them.

“You learn to solve problems systematically and how to troubleshoot issues with hardware and software,” he said. “You learn persistence and how to be curious. This challenge taught me a lot about time management and working with a group. Usually, when I’m working on a project, it’s pretty open-ended and time isn’t a problem, but for this project, the constraints made it difficult to strike a balance between planning time and construction. I also gained some experience collaborating with my friends Seamus and Nathan. Everybody brought a different set of skills and ideas to the table. Overall, we had a great time working and competing together.”

Rio Harper, Sam Denton, Carter Cattadoris, and Zack Benedict earned second place in the division for creating a robot that would autonomously travel across solar panels to sweep away snow accumulation in the winter.

“The part I love the most about working with STEM projects is the constant feeling of onward and upward as we keep working towards our final goal,” said Denton.

Like Mongeau, Denton also found the project’s time constraints to be a challenge.

“Going to the competition introduced a deadline into our project that the group I was part of [is] normally unfamiliar with,” he said. “Learning to adapt in tight circumstances was exciting, and I think being forced to improvise when things went wrong was probably my favorite part.”

In the junior division (grades 4-8), Cazenovia Middle School’s “Empowered” team — made up of Eddie Hollman, Dougie Bradstreet, Jack Bradstreet, and Gabe Mongeau — placed first. The team created a device for the shower that would switch off the water after five minutes to stop excessively long showers, switch off the water when the soap was picked up, and provide real-time information about water usage, electricity usage, and shower time remaining.

Hollman, who plans to participate in all five of the MOST’s challenges this year, said he believes part of what set his team’s project apart in the judges’ eyes was the inclusion of a printed paper copy of their code as part of their display board.

“Almost all the judges mentioned that our code had ‘comments,’ which I had added in order to fix problems,” he said. “The impression I got from the judges was that we were the only or one of very few teams that used comments. Also, we had a working prototype, and our project was quite complex.”

The “Dragon Slayers,” a second Cazenovia Middle School team made up of Sam Schofield, Levi Rushing, Harrison Steinbacher, River Solomon, and Oliver Smith, was awarded the special “Fan Favorite” award for their “Hurricane Slayer.”

“The kids found that Hurricanes form when the sea water is over 28 degrees Celsius,” said Schofield’s father, Ray, who supervised the team. “To defang the hurricanes, they would pump water from depths in the ocean to cool the surface water temperature. The whole system would be powered by a salter sink, which is a turbine that generates power from waves. . . As an engineer, I see great value in the competition that the MOST hosts. This gives the kids a true experience in the complex and rewarding field of STEM and shows them how there are many different sets of skills that a team needs to complete a project.”

According to Schofield, his team earned the title of “Fan Favorite” by having the “most talked about” and “most heard about” project in the division.

“It was unique,” Schofield said. “A lot of people did solar panels, and we didn’t incorporate any solar panels into [our build] because we focused on one big thing, hurricanes.”

Burton Street Elementary School’s “Defenders of Green” team — composed of Maggie Alton, Jedd Bjork, Genevieve Cody, Wolfgang Marsland, Reagan Miller, and Mattox Tinkham — took second for developing a solar panel that would track the sun to increase the efficiency of the panels.

The teams each created their device from a robotics kit supplied by the MOST and any additional components of their choosing.

“They had to come up with an idea, design a prototype, build it using electronic components, and then write code to make it all work together,” said Claire Hollman, who supervised her son’s “Empowered” team. “In addition, each team had to create a science fair board and present their working prototype to numerous judges and then answer their technical questions.”

Projects were evaluated in a science-fair style judging session based on three metrics: technical proficiency/efficiency, design creativity/process, and student comprehension of STEM concepts.

According to Hyatt, the MOST Challenge teams are organized and acknowledged by the school district, but they are community-led and sponsored activities. Often, teams are led by parent volunteers who provide space and time for the students to work.

“Early in the school year, Ray Schofield, a dad of a middle schooler, sent a message to all middle school students, via the middle school office, offering to supervise a team of any students who might be interested in participating in the MOST challenges,” said Claire. “Unfortunately, Eddie’s schedule didn’t allow him to participate with Ray’s team, so we ended up creating our own. However, Ray had a great team of motivated students and many volunteer parents.”

Claire, who hosted the “Empowered” team at her house one to three times a week from the beginning of December through competition day, said that when she signed the team up, she didn’t realize the extent of the electrical wiring and coding required to create the project.

“It was not block coding,” she said. “Eddie had to research the components given to the team from the MOST and then code in C++ from scratch. He was only able to do this [because] last summer he became interested in coding and taught himself during vacation. I was completely out of my depth. Unfortunately, this kind of coding only starts as a high school course.”

According to Claire, Cazenovia’s overall success in the competition is due in large part to the many opportunities that are available locally for kids to get involved in STEM.

“Starting in elementary school and combined with [Cazenovia Public Library] events, Cazenovia children have exposure to STEM in a fun interactive way,” she said. “The annual Science Fair in Burton Street is a wonderful event that encourages motivated individuals to explore STEM interests further. In Middle school, Mrs. McHugh’s phenomenal after-school programs facilitate teamwork, creative thinking, and a love for learning while expanding STEM knowledge. . . The well-equipped high school STEM lab, the dynamic and engaging staff, and the interesting [and] varied courses [give] our Cazenovia students great opportunities.”

The MOST is located at 500 S. Franklin St. in Syracuse. For more information, visit most.org.