Fall City kids get constructive

Published 2:59 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

It was a day like any other day at Fall City Elementary School last

Friday, Feb. 11. Except, perhaps, in the lunchroom.

On one side of the room stood a group of steely-eyed men and

women, waiting expectantly with clipboards and scoring materials in their hands.

Elsewhere in the room sat a large herd of fifth graders. Each had

similar materials placed on the tables in front of them: a large plastic bag

with Leggos, a rock, some string and a sheet of aluminum foil. Their mission

was simple: construct something from the parts in the bag, with an eye

towards originality and good design sense.

“You’ve got 45 minutes,” said one of the adults. “Ready? Go!” And

away they went.

The National Association of Women in Construction, Puget

Sound Chapter No. 60, sponsored the event, known as the “Block Kids 2000

Program.” According to Kim Anderson, who helped organize the Fall

City event, the competition is now in its tenth year and is designed to

interest children in a possible career in the construction industry.

“We knew there would be a shortage in the construction trades in a

few years,” she commented. “All of the chapters support this competition

on a yearly basis. We have a good program.

“The winner here will be submitted to the regional level and from

regional the winner will go on to a national competition. The national

winner gets a $25,000 savings bond.”

As the kids worked on their designs the judges _ all of who

were from the construction industry _ fanned out to observe, answer

questions and ask a few questions of their own. On the tables a startling

variety of creations took form, ranging from construction cranes to figures to

buildings to strange animals, as well as a few more free-form objects.

At the end of the timed period the budding construction engineers

were dismissed to recess while the judges set to work. After several huddled

conferences and a few friendly debates, point totals were tabulated and the

kids were brought in to hear the results.

“We had a real tough time in deciding on a winner,” said Joe Hicks

of AAR Testing Labs. “We want everyone to know that all of you are

winners. You’ve all done a great job.”

Rose Ann Shahbaghlian’s intricate arch with a construction worker

underneath received first place honors. Shahbaghlian, a student in Mrs.

Desi Hart’s fifth-grade class, will now move on to the district competition.

Two members of Mrs. Sheryl Belt’s fifth-grade class, Harrison

Frye and Robbie Pekara, placed second and third. The top three finishers all

received plaques while all of the participants received T-shirts and ball

caps for their efforts, as well as the congratulations of the judges.

“All of the designs were good, but I particularly liked one that looked

like a condo,” said Mike O’Conner of Barclay-Dean Construction. “It

shows a good basic understanding of design principals.”

“It’s like a large office building with different apartments, sort of

like a house of the future,” said the

builder, Brittany Klein of Dennis Uno’s fifth-grade class. “It has porches so you

can tan and stuff.

“This was a lot of fun,” she said.

“I had fun too,” said classmate Samantha Reising. “I’m going

into construction some day.”