Hempfield students win engineering competition with Chain Reaction machine

Students at Hempfield Area High School recently showcased their award-winning machine to the school board. This machine, called "Ruben Smash," won first place in an engineering competition held in February. The competition, hosted by Westinghouse, challenges students to create machines that perform a task using many steps. For this year’s challenge, teams had to design a machine that makes a sandwich. The Hempfield team successfully completed their machine with 28 steps in one minute and 10 seconds. Tom Harden, the science teacher who has led students in this competition for nearly 20 years, praised his students for their dedication. They worked on the project mostly outside of school hours, demonstrating their commitment. Some even came in for six hours the day before Thanksgiving to keep up with their project. Alyssa Parker, who served as project manager for "Ruben Smash," received a special scholarship worth $1,000. This scholarship is named after Chris Savinda, a Westinghouse engineer who passed away in 2024. Parker plans to use the scholarship to support her studies at the Colorado School of Mines. Harden expressed pride in Parker’s leadership skills, stating that she had a natural ability to take charge. The success of the team reflects hard work and a positive spirit within the school's engineering programs.