Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Several Presque Isle Middle School students caused a ruckus recently … but in a good way.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
FOUR PRESQUE ISLE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS in Leslee Mahon’s Gifted and Talented class recently competed – and placed – in the Ruckus Nation competition. Ruckus Nation is an idea competition that challenges entrants to imagine a new product that is fun and exciting enough to make kids want to get up and move around. Seventh-graders Thomas Freeman and Wesley Zeng were one of two middle school category winning teams worldwide and will share $25,000 for their efforts, while Josh Gordon and William Popov were each named semifinalists and received $250 apiece. Pictured are, from left: Freeman, Gordon, Popov and Zeng.
The Gifted and Talented students in Leslee Mahon’s class competed – and placed – in Ruckus Nation, an idea competition launched in 2007 that challenges entrants to imagine a new product that is fun and exciting enough to make kids want to get up and move around.
HopeLab, the non-profit organization sponsoring Ruckus Nation, supports the development, testing and distribution of products based on the best ideas.
Seventh-graders Thomas Freeman and Wesley Zeng were one of two middle school category winning teams worldwide and will share $25,000 for their efforts.
“Our idea was called ‘Dynamic Drums.’ It’s a mixture of the games Simon and Dance Dance Revolution,” said Freeman, 13, son of Jayne Farrin and Stephen Freeman. “There are several modes, but the original one is the memory mode. On the screen, it flashes a drum and your dance pad is exactly like the screen. You press – with your feet – the drum that it told you on the screen.
“Then it will flash one drum, and another drum, and you press those drums on the drum pad. Then it will do those same two drums and then another one … it keeps on adding drums until you have 12,” he said. “Our idea includes the snare drum, bass drum, cymbal, and bongo … any type of drum. This system is compatible with the Wii system so you’d see the drums on screen. You have to memorize the sequences and stay with the tempo.”
Freeman said Zeng was “fooling around in class” when the idea for Dynamic Drums was born.
“I saw him dancing, and then I thought of Dance Dance Revolution and the drums aspect of our idea,” said Freeman, noting that, “Wesley’s an OK dancer.”
“I like to dance to anything that has a good beat,” said Zeng, 12, son of Winnie and Eric Zeng.
Freeman and Zeng have earned themselves $12,500 apiece.
“As a semifinalist, we also got $250, so splitting that, we each got $12,625,” Freeman said. “I’m putting most of my money away for college. I may keep $300 at the most and put it toward a new computer.”
When Freeman found out he and Zeng were winners, he was in complete shock.
“I thought we had no chance of winning at all,” said Freeman. “I screamed when I found out we won. My family first thought it was a scam, but then they realized it was true.”
“I was pretty confident we’d do well,” said Zeng. “When Thomas called and told me we won, I told him to stop screaming into the phone.
“I’m going to save my money,” he said. “I may buy something fun, but I’m saving the rest.”
In addition to their monetary prize, Freeman and Zeng each received a plaque.
To receive their award at a March 17 ceremony, the boys flew to San Francisco. While there, they presented their idea before a panel of 20 judges, plus did a lot of sightseeing.
“We were there for almost a week,” said Freeman. “We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, saw Redwood trees, Chinatown and other things. Our whole families went. It was a nice vacation. I had never been west of Tennessee, so it was nice to get away from the snow.”
Sixth-grader Josh Gordon, 11, was named a semifinalist for his idea, “The Life of an Athlete.”
“My idea is a game to get kids moving,” said Gordon, son of Lisa and Alan Gordon. “They wear motion sensor devices and a heart rate monitor so they can make their own player on the screen. They can play, practice, do drills, and win championships as they move up from middle school, high school, college and professional.
“I came up with the idea after basketball practice,” he said. “In practice, I was thinking, ‘I could make this into an idea and it would be so cool.’ It would simulate what the life of an athlete could be.”
All participants had to write an essay detailing their idea.
“I also drew a rough picture of my idea,” said Gordon, who found out he was a semifinalist after reading an e-mail from Ruckus Nation. “I kind of freaked out, and jumped up and down. I couldn’t speak … I was speechless. I had to hand my parents my computer so they could see what I was so excited about.”
As a semifinalist, Gordon received $250 and a certificate.
“I am going to put $200 toward my college fund, and I’m going to keep $50 for my spending,” he said, noting that he’d like to one day be an inventor. “I may get a game for my Wii.”
Sixth-grader William Popov, 12, was also named a semifinalist in the Ruckus Nation competition.
“My idea was ‘Artillery Dodge Ball,’” he said. “It’s an automatic dodge ball launcher that has either infrared or a laser sensor and it detects where you are and shoots a dodge ball at you. You can have different modes like different speeds and different angles that it can see you.”
The son of Alex Popov and Michelle and Brent Andersen, Popov said he likes playing dodge ball and thought it would translate into a fun, interactive game.
“We like playing dodge ball in PE, and sometimes we want to play it when there’s not enough people,” he said, “so I thought this would help.”
Popov also received $250 and a certificate.
“I’m giving either $100 or $150 to my grandparents,” he said, “and I’ll keep the rest. I’ll probably save it, and when I have enough I’ll buy something cool.
“I didn’t think I would win, so I really didn’t want to do it at first,” said Popov, “but it paid off … literally. I’m glad that I did it, and now I’m probably going to do more projects in GT that look boring, so I can win more things.”
Mahon said she encouraged her middle school GT students to submit their innovative ideas to Ruckus Nation.
“I gave them time in class to come up with the ideas and try to produce the essay so we could submit them by the deadline,” she said. “There were a lot of fabulous ideas, but not everyone chose to submit them.
“I looked at this project as cross-curricular because we not only used science in terms of inventing something, but also health and physical education because it had to be a toy that required students to move,” said Mahon. “The goal of HopeLab is to fight obesity in kids, so that was a clear goal. The project touched on a lot of different areas.”
Mahon said she was “overjoyed” that so many of her students did well in the competition.
“I believe this area has a great number of very bright students and it’s important that they are involved in anything they can to get recognition for their accomplishments,” she said. “I’m very proud of them.”
As category winners, Freeman and Zeng had the opportunity to award $2,500 to a teacher or mentor who helped inspire the winning entry. The $2,500 inspiration prize went to Mahon.
“It’s an honor,” she said.
According to the Ruckus Nation Web site, 429 entries were received from 37 countries. Entries were judged using the following criteria: appeal to kids, getting kids moving, keeping them moving, originality, and giving kids control of the product.
HopeLab supports the development of product prototypes based on great ideas submitted to the competition.
These prototypes will be rigorously tested to determine their effectiveness. Prototypes that prove to be the most effective will be developed into final products and made broadly available to kids.
