Ranatra Fusca Awards
Sherburne-Earlville HS OMer the ROMER Division III
This team constructed a realistic tri-tone train whistle blown by pneumatic power they created from scratch. The team also harnessed air power in a team-built, spring- loaded cylinder with so much engineering, it challenged the judges. In simple terms, it changed energy into unique motions to pick up an obstacle with an intricate cantilevered arm. This performance was sweet and the engineering was innovative – this team “candy crushed” it.
St. Mark Catholic School P2 Virtual Odyssey Division II
This team chose to make a wedding dress entirely out of toilet paper which their skit pointed out was hard to find during the pandemic. If you are thinking of the wedding dresses that you might have made during a bridal shower, you are underestimating the creativity and beautiful construction of this dress. From the “embroidered” pattern of swirls of toilet papers that ran vertically down the bodice, to the roses that were fully constructed by toilet paper at the waist, this dress was truly a work of art. The primary maker of the dress and its wearer, “Taylor” Peyton (Yes, her real initials are TPF) performed many dance moves and wore the dress during the entire solution and it did not lose a sheet. Amazing work Taylor!
AES Restaurant Foundation, Inc. P2 Virtual Odyssey Division III
Those of us on the judging team and in the audience were “wowed” and had the pleasure of being served the best fast food meal we’ve had in years! The team took risks unlike anything we had seen by pneumatically launching a team member between virtual and real worlds, creating a multi piece 2D-3D component built over the course of the 8 minutes, and having the courage to even lock up The Dairy Queen. The giant taco using an old dentist chair motor with scissor lift, combined with a radio frequency-triggered compressed air launching system, left us hungry for more.
Orchard Farm Middle School A Superhero Socks: A Cliffhanger Beginning Division II
This team created a ‘new’ language for an old concept–and presented its entire performance without a word of recognizable communication. Despite the risk of missing scored elements and having their plot misunderstood, the team created a humorous performance where every part of the problem was clearly and effectively solved–you might say the team made it seem so easy, a Caveman could do it. For a performance that solved the problem with panache and with a representation of a prehistoric language, we congratulate the team!
Kiwanis Club of Naples Superhero Socks: A Cliffhanger Beginning Division III
This team showed outstanding creativity by making a complex technical structure the centerpiece of its Problem 5 performance—every bit as well engineered and every bit as central to the show as the structure created by a Problem 4 team—though not made out of just balsa wood and glue. This structure had a full stage on top, a harness for team members to hang upside down, and a complex framework to change backgrounds many times easily and convincingly—and with stage sets of different sizes, shapes, and numbers. It also served as the conceptual framework for the performance, which was designed from plot to characters to jokes around the structure at center stage. From floor to ceiling and everywhere in between, this structure and this team occupied the performance area and took the judges’ breath away.