Four North Winneshiek eighth-graders and their teacher won a trip to Washington, D.C., May 2-6, where they were named a stellar team and teacher for the Spaceday 2002 contest.  

Dexter Christopher, Ashley Hovey, Michelle Janechek, and Randee Numedahl, students of Birgitta Meade, a science teacher for three classes of seventh- and eighth-graders at North Winneshiek Community Schools, won in the category of best collaboration.   Their project was "Got Veggies?" a model of a greenhouse and power plant for growing vegetables on Mars.   The winners were announced on the Spaceday webcast May 2.

Lockheed Martin provided $1000 for travel expenses for each of the winning teams going to Washington, D.C.   The Iowa Space Grant Consortium, contributing $500, was one of several organizations that helped defray the North Winneshiek team's trip expenses.

The nationwide contest, whose goal is to increase interest among young people in space science, drew 16 teams from around the nation.   The awards ceremony was held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, which the Iowa visitors were able to tour.   Special guests at the ceremony included former Senator and Astronaut John Glenn, as well as former Astronauts Sally Ride and Brian Duffy.

"It was a great experience," said Ashley Hovey, describing the contest.   "I think everyone should do this."   The other members of the team agreed, and according to their teacher, "awesome" was a word the team members frequently used to describe their experience.

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Teams entering the contest could compete in one of two age categories:   Grades 4-5 or Grades 6-8.   According to contest rules, teams were to consist of both boys and girls, and the teams at different schools were to communicate with one another.   This was done over the Internet through chat rooms, e-pals, and webcasts at which students could question experts.

A team could select one of three challenges for its entry:   Build a rover; come up with a way to make living and working on Mars easier; or write a newsletter to tell people about life on Mars.  

North Winneshiek fielded 12 teams for the contest, five of which made it to the finalist level.   Most of the teams chose to build a rover.   The winning team chose the second challenge because they wanted to make living and working on Mars easier.   They wanted to make a greenhouse to provide healthy food for the astronauts and to make oxygen.

Using the robotix they won last year in the Learning Curve International contest, the winning team designed and built a greenhouse and power plant (left).   The model had solar panels mounted on pivots to track the sun, two wind generators for periods without sunlight, a greenhouse with tiny plants, a rover with a drill, grabber, and bucket, which was designed to drill for ice chunks and carry them back to the greenhouse.   The filtration system in the greenhouse allowed the water to be reused.

The team members e-mailed experts for advice and consulted with other Spaceday participants through the e-pals website as well as reading books and magazines.   "The fact that this was a contest and that students had to share ideas with other schools was a real motivator for my classes," said Meade.   "The webcasts allowed my students to have a real sense of connection with our country's space program.   I think it all seems much more real to them now."

In addition to best collaboration, the other winning categories were most creative and most useful.