Students design winning toys

Students from Walnut Canyon Elementary School in Moorpark were recently selected to advance to the Sally Ride Science TOYchallenge 2008 Nationals to be held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on May 31.

The students are Kayla Edwardsen, Naomi Carrillo, Teddy Beagle, Andrew Austin, Blake Harmon and Samantha Tedder on The Imagineers team, and Paul Gillis-Smith, Olivia Ordin, Tyler Letson, Emily Steinberg, Elizabeth Mason, Kristina Yows as members of the Toy-I-Nators team.

Both teams are led by Robin Beagle.

In the preliminary round, the teams submitted written descriptions and visual presentations of their original toy or game concepts based on themed categories.

The submissions were judged on originality, creativity, feasibility, and team participation.

One hundred preliminary round finalists were invited to advance to the Nationals.

TOYchallenge is a toy- and game-design competition in which elementary and middle school children develop engineering skills by creating their dream toy. The contest is run by Sally Ride Science, a science content company dedicated to fueling youth interest in science, math and technology.