Coal City school holds Cupcake Launch competition

COAL CITY – The fifth-grade science classes at Coal City Intermediate School held the fifth annual Cupcake Launch Competition after school Oct. 22.

The project was voluntary, without being graded, and just for the love of science. Students could work with family and other students to create a catapult demonstrating understanding of the laws of motion that go along with the school’s physics unit. Then they competed to launch a cupcake the farthest.

Twenty-five catapults were entered into the event, and the attraction drew about 100 spectators of competitors and family members. There was a first round, which was a best out of two launches, and then a single elimination round of the top five launchers. The top two launchers battled it out for the title of the cupcake launcher champion.

The winning launcher, named “Delicious Destroyer,” was designed by Mia Ratajczak and had a launch distance of 233.7 feet. Coming in second was “Sugar Crusher,” made by Taylor Sitar, with a distance of 130.11 feet. The event was to celebrate the science, encourage families to work together and have fun while learning and incorporating engineering practices reflective of the new national science standards in education.