Harmony Grove School District

Harmony Grove Middle School sixth grade gifted and talented students joined with other students from Dawson co-op schools for Optimum STEAM day on Friday, September 27. Working in cooperative teams with students from the other schools, teams designed 20 unique mini-golf holes.  Optimum awarded a $600 grant to pay for all the supplies, snacks (cheese ball golf balls and pretzel putters) and prizes for the day. This is the sixth year Optimum has funded Dawson STEAM days. Ms. Shawn Ducré-Jackson, marketing business manager for Optimum helped award prizes and was so thrilled to see the students’ creativity shine.  

Each team received a bag of identical supplies to build their roller coaster. Teams had to build a putter to go along with their hole. Supplies included yardsticks, paint sticks, popsicle sticks, straws, paper plates, cups, and bowls; as well as cotton balls, and a few other items. Ms.Ducré-Jackson and ASU Three Rivers staff served as judges for the day. Students explained their engineering design process to the judges and finished the day by playing the 20-hole course. Harmony Grove Middle School students were on two winning teams:  Aimslee Minner for Problem Solving Ninjas with their challenging Around the World hole, Lily Spinks for Judges Spotlight with their Fairytale hole that reinvented their supplies in new ways and added a dimensional portal! Other prize categories were Team Spirit and Brightest Theme.