Sylvan Learning Centre in Okotoks congratulates two of their engineering summer camp students with a major win.

Jordan Stewart and Anthony Kiddle were both entered into the Sylvan Learning Grand S.T.E.M (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Challenge and walked away with an honourable mention, placing fourth in the national competition. The two boys were the only Canadian duo to place in the competition which included teams from Canada and the US.

The Grand S.T.E.M Challenge was to build a car out of K'NEX materials.  This car had to be functional, be able to safely transport two egg passengers and also come in at a budget.

Anthony Kiddle says "We had to make a car that could go down and hit the end of a ramp and either stop without any damage or flip over and keep going without any damage."  Jordan Stewart adds "We couldn't have any damages to the eggs or the yolks inside to simulate a persons brain, so we would have crack both eggs every time to see what had happened."

Some of the educational elements the boys learned was the importance of making their vehicles structurally sound.

Jordan Stewart says "We made it structurally strong so it wouldn't break on impact, and another important thing was to have back-up plans for building it." Anthony says "we focused on making more then one connection, don't just have one point of contact."

Not only does that work seem challenging enough for most people, add working with a best friend to the mix.  The duo were friends before this competition and their friendship was tested numerous times.

Jordan says a lot of their biggest problems were in communication.

"We both described the same thing, but it was completely different things then what we had in our heads." He adds "When we both wanted to upgrade something to make it even better, because it's always fun to have it better than it was, and to accomplish this we had to work together, which was not easy to start out.

Both boys were home-schooled and attended the Sylvan Learning engineering summer camps together.  They say that they both enjoy the building aspect of engineering and discovering more about how things work.  Both Jordan and Anthony have said they can see engineering careers in the future.

The engineering duo both won $75 gift cards to K'NEX online, and a free Sylvan Learning class of their choice.  

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