VIDEOSTORY: Principal Puckers Up for a Porker

On Friday, Heritage Elementary School students chanted "Kiss the Pig" and then cheered wildly when Principal Les Sharon obliged, capping off a successful $4,000 fundraiser that will help send the state champion team to the global competition in Knoxville, May 25-28.

The French Five” team of Alex Mah, Johnathan Roberts, Jon-Michael Taylor, and Peter and Rachel Ward not only placed first in the State, but also received a Renaissance Award, which recognizes extraordinary amounts of effort and preparation, design and performance in a team's solution. These fifth-graders chose “Challenge A: Unidentified Moving Object” and proceeded to design and build equipment to move various materials to and from towering heights, which provides a solution to an infrastructure problem. They researched the Malpasset Dam collapse in 1959 in Frejus, France, which killed 432 people. The team used an imaginary REFLECT time machine that goes back in time to repair cracks in the dam in order to save the community. The time machine included an electromagnet, a Lego Mindstorm robot, a crank lift with pulleys, a touch sensor, a PVC pipe sweeper, and a deflector shield. They built elaborate scenery of the dam site, a 1950's-style TV, and a replica of the Malpasset Dam Memorial as well as learned French as part of their presentation. Their team managers are Kevin Taylor and Julie Jones.

Quantum Signal, a Saline business, made a donation to help the students reach their fundraising target.