As the school year nears the end, the annual science fair approaches which means the Rube Goldberg machines are in the makings. But this year there is a slight change. Instead of the freshman doing this project, the eighth graders are taking on the challenge.

The science fair is on May 25. Everyone presents their machines or projects that they have been working on. Eighth grader Julia Larson said, “I am glad we are doing this project; it is interesting to see how all of the machines are getting built and how they will all connect eventually.” The final day is getting close and Larson is excited to see how everything works out. 

When building these machines it is a process of trial and error. It may get frustrating at some times, but at the end of the day it is a fun project to use your brain and to work with other people and their ideas.

In eighth grader Tucker Sigler’s group, they made plenty of errors and had to restart many times. Sigler said, “It has been a fun and frustrating process at the same time.” Sigler and his group finally got the hang of it and are almost ready for the final test.

While testing these machines out it can be nerve racking especially on the final day since students’ grades are based on it. They have to make sure everything is perfected and flows well with the other groups’ projects. 

When it comes to getting a good score on these, students also have to make sure they have the right amount of simple machines. Eighth grader Allie Walhowe said, “It was difficult putting the actual plan into real life because not everything went the way we wanted to and it was challenging trying to fit all of the simple machines.”

The eighth graders have put in a lot of time and effort. Now it’s time to put them all together and make sure they work as one.