Avon View students win physics Pringle Challenge at Acadia

By Wendy Elliott

Avon View High students have won the Canada Post Pringle Challenge at the Acadia University physics department’s recent Olympics.

The Avon View team safely sent their potato chip via Canada Post into the university in advance.

Megan Mulloy, a Grade 10 Avon View student, was on the gold team, along with Ross Porter of Kings Edgehill.

Chelsea Cox and Aimee Warner were the other Avon View participants.

The overall winner for the May 8 competition was a mixed team, said department spokesperson Anna Kiefte. “All teams were mixed up with kids from different schools, different grade levels from 10-12, and different genders,” Kiefte said. “The overall winning team won based on the five challenges from throughout the day.”

There were four rotating morning activities, and the afternoon challenge was a "Rube Goldberg" activity, where the purpose was a do a simple action (in this case to ring a bell) using the most complicated possible sequence of steps using a variety of materials. “The students didn't know the details of these five activities in advance -- so they hadn't done prep in advance,” she added.

The Physics Olympics had about 120 participants from all over the Valley region -- from Windsor to Annapolis Royal. “The day was jam-packed with fun physics challenges and activities.”