On Thursday, April 8, students from Vermont Commons School (VCS) and Shelburne Community School (SCS) participated in UVM's engineering contests held at the Vermont Air National Guard. As in previous years, students designed and built cars made from edible materials. VCS students submitted two edible cars, and the one shown to the right took first prize in the design category. SCS students received first place for their car in the "edibility" category.

The winning car for VCS had a melted caramel-pretzel reinforced body designed by seventh graders Adrian Kelly of Shelburne, along with Nora Hill and Tanner Francis. The distance the car rolled and the creative, yet realistic, construction of its axle and wheel system impressed the judges. The wheels were made by melting jolly ranchers in a cup. A bunch of spaghetti was then placed in the hot jolly rancher mixture and allowed to cool, effectively adhering the axle to the wheel. The axle was then inserted through several pieces of ziti, which were adhered to the caramel body. Then another jolly rancher wheel was added to the other side.

The SCS car was made of cookies, pretzels, and other sugary treats. Sharon White, enrichment coordinator at SCS coached the students from the Discover Team who entered the contest: Anna Brooks, Earl Fletcher, Alex Merrill, and Justin McAuliffe.

"The students had a great time and were very excited about receiving recognition for their creation," said John Madden, teacher on the Discover Team.

All contest winners' cars will be on display for public viewing at ECHO for "Earth Weeks' MudFest" from Saturday, April 24 through Sunday, May 2.