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Issued by: Laura Hunt 414-229-6447 llhunt@uwm.edu Date: April 26, 2002

West Wisconsin Schools Take Top Honors at UWM Rube Goldberg Competition

MILWAUKEE -- The west side of the state showed their colors in the fifth annual Rube Goldberg Machine Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) on Friday.

Cuba City, Spooner and Prescott high schools beat 39 other high schools from around Wisconsin to take first, second and third place at this, the largest machine-building contest for teenagers in the nation.

The high schools set up their innovative contraptions in the Klotsche Athletic Center with the mandate of constructing a machine that "secure, raises, and waves the national flag" in no fewer than 20 mechanical steps.

The competition is named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and engineer who became famous in the 1930s and '40s for his depictions of overly complicated machines designed to perform a simple task. Cuba City's "machine" employed a catapult that launched a potato, a toy truck that rolled across a homemade Golden Gate Bridge, and a swinging flagpole with a needle on the end that popped a balloon full of confetti. Like several other entries, Cuba City's design included a step that triggered patriotic music to play.

Fourth-ranked Athens High School, near Wausau, incorporated a trip that turned on a tape of Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American."

Besides the more creative application of ice skates, fishing poles, and air compressors, many of the gizmos also paid tribute to the lives lost in the terrorist attacks of September 11. Second place Spooner High School, near St. Croix, built a complicated device that included ball bearings running down a plinko board and a water filling a bucket causing it to slowly drop. It also featured beautiful paintings on the sides depicting the Twin Towers and NYC firefighters.

Southwestern High School in Hazel Green took away the coveted "Bronze Duct Tape Award," given to the team that used the most of the all-purpose adhesive. Monroe High School won the "School Spirit" award when they organized a huge multi-school human chain that danced around the arena.

Also this year, a record number of female students and students of color participated in the fun.

The purpose of the competition is to give high schoolers a fun opportunity to apply mechanical principles and experience staying on a college campus for a couple of days, says John Clark, director of the competition.

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