Pat Catan’s held its 12th-annual Iron Crafters event, a competition between schools to create a project that is unknown to them until the morning of competition, on Saturday.
The Iron Crafters event started at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with all participants signing in. After the sign up, Pat Catan’s manager Brett Joseph went over the rules of the competition. Each team was provided a box that contained many different items in which to build their project. After looking through the box, the groups then revealed what their project was. For this year, the theme was a Kinetic Structure – each team had to show mobility/movement in their creations. Teams did not have to use any of the items in the box with the exception of one secret item, clothespins, that had to be a part of their project.
The teams were made up of four students from each school – Miami Trace High School, Washington High School and Greenfield McClain – and had 10 minutes to sit down with their coach to strategize. Coaches could not participate in any way once the competition began. They were allowed to come back at the end for the last 10 minutes to assist their team with any suggestions, if needed.
“We gave the teams 20 minutes, and a $25 limit for additional supplies provided by Pat Catan’s, to race around the store and pick out any additional merchandise that they wanted to add to their project,” Joseph said about the event. “Once the 20 minutes was up, the teams had two hours to complete their masterpiece.”
Three judges from outside the store were selected beforehand and used a score sheet to award points for different categories including, design, composition, color tones, durability/strength, visual appeal, neatness, and complexity.
At the end of the two hours, the judges took time to evaluate each project and award the points. At the conclusion of the event, the Miami Trace “Team Yellow,” with members Henry Debruin, Simon Debruin, Cheyenne Nader, John Bryant and coach Lyndsey Mincey, were selected as the 2016 champion. The winning team received a $100 gift card for the school, $25 gift card for each student, a trophy, and a t-shirt.
Other teams competing in this year’s event were: the Miami Trace, “Team Red,” with members Hazen Jacobs, Aubrey Schwartz, Khya Humbert, Aubrey McCoy and coach Mina Jones; the Washington C.H., “Team Blue,” with members Ty Rose, Sam Schroeder, Maizy Funderburg, Payton Maddux and coach Tami Rose; and the Greenfield McClain, “Team Purple,” with members Jhaela Coleman, Kayla Sweazy, Molly Rowe, Anna Justice and coach Jason Potts.
All competing participants were given a t-shirt with the Iron Crafters 2016 logo, and a $20 gift card to each student and coach.
“The competition was great, scores were close, and the projects that the kids created were awesome,” Joseph said. “I want to thank all of the students from each school for participating in our first Pat Catan’s Washington C.H. Iron Crafters competition. Thanks to the judges, Julie Peterson, Suzanne Morrison, and Randy Woods for taking the time and doing a great job. Thank you to all of the coaches that helped make the first event a huge success. We had a very small amount of time to prepare for this, and without them, it wouldn’t have happened. And thank you to my staff here at the store for all of their hard work before, during, and after the event. We look forward to next year and plan to make it bigger and better in the years to come.”
Pat Catan’s is an arts and crafts supply store that recently opened in Washington C.H.
This article was submitted by Pat Catan’s.
