3 Brothers, 2 Junkers, and 1 Amazing Prize

This week I'm going to shake things up a little, and instead of lecturing you, I'm going to tell a story about one of my life changing experiences because of science fairs.

My freshman year, I competed in the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge (DYSC). I was one of 50 middle school science fair competitors who traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete for three top prizes and a myriad of smaller prizes. The competition itself was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but that is not the story I'd like to tell today. This is the story of the Techno Challenge prize from The Learning Channel (TLC).

I won the Techno Challenge prize for technical innovation - this was for my 8th grade project where I built a five foot "Tower of Terror" like free-fall device, and a car with different weights and a "weightless sensor" controlled by a simple electric circuit. You may or not remember a TLC TV series that was popular in the late 90s and early 2000's - Junkyard Wars. This show is about two teams who compete to create a machine that completes a specified task, built completely from items found in a junkyard. The prize I won was to travel to Pittsburgh, PA to the Carnegie Science Center to build two cars with the Long Brothers - the then national and international Junkyard Wars champions. Suffice it to say, the boys I competed with were quite jealous that I won.

I spent a long weekend in PA building a dune buggy and a dragster - bending pipes, welding, and altogether having a blast. The Long brothers even tried to teach me how to drive a standard car when one of the junkers needed to be moved (all under parental supervision and in a closed lot of course!). One of my best memories was using an acetylene torch to cut the the gear shift out of one of the cars. Well, the heavy safety gloves they gave me were a little too big. The extra fabric in the thumb hit the gas control, my torch slowly shifted from an excellent cutting flame to an amazing bonfire torch, and I lit the car carpeting into a minor fire. It was very small, and very easily put out, but it was thrilling. I learned the proper way to use an acetylene torch and welding equipment - how many 13 year old girls can say that? The absolute best part was watching the car I helped build drive down the street. That weekend is what made me want to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. All because of a science fair prize, I discovered what I wanted to reach for as a career.

My Small Fire