Chaparral Students ‘Keep it Moving’ at JPL Design Contest

upside-down rubber band catapult pushed a spinning ball to the top of a 20-foot rain gutter ramp.

upside-down rubber band catapult pushed a spinning ball to the top of a 20-foot rain gutter ramp.

By Walnut Valley Unified

Congratulations to Chaparral Middle School sixth grade students Karissa Wong and Joshua Chou who won top awards in the “Keep it Moving” Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) Design Competition.

The team brought home a 4th Place award at the regional contest last year and advanced to the finals.

The Chaparral students competed among 20 teams at the finals. Most were at the high school level, but that didn’t stop these determined middle school students.

Wong and Chou won 3rd Place and the Most Creative Design awards.

The objective of the Keep it Moving challenge was to invent a device to move a billiard ball between five to eight meters using three modes of transportation – gravity, any sort of spring, and a free choice of energy like a motor.

They designed an upside-down rubber band catapult to push the ball up to the top of a 20-foot long rain gutter ramp. The ball had to be kept moving (spinning didn’t count) the entire time during the contest.

The billiard ball rolled down the ramp by gravity until it was blocked by a servomotor arm, which moved back and forth to keep the ball moving very slowly for timing accuracy.

At a specific time, a computer commanded the arm to open up to let the ball continue to roll down and hits two triggering switches to turn on loud buzzers.   The entry also needed to initiate an audible sound as close to 20 seconds as possible, by the ball.

The Chaparral students clocked an impressive 20.218 or 0.218 second over the 20-second mark!

What was the best part of the experience?

“We liked the meetings and practices at Chick-fil-A best!” the pair exclaimed.

Walnut grad takes on ‘American Idol’

Adanna Duru 2

Walnut Valley Unified

Watch out for 2014 Walnut High School graduate Adanna Duru when “American Idol” kicks off this week. The legendary singing competition opens Season 14 on Wednesday at 8 p.m.on FOX.

Duru, age 18, threw her hat in the ring during the show’s San Francisco auditions.The savvy-teen has been gracing stages for years.

During her sophomore year at age 15, Duru competed during “The Voice” Season 3 with Team Adam. Since then, Duru has been steadily growing her career performing and writing songs for platinum selling recording artists under Universal Records.

She has recorded a pair of singles – “C.E.O.” and “Amplify” and is currently recording her debut album. You can check out her eHHmusic videos on YouTube.

Duru also impressed Walnut Valley staff members with her performance of “Valerie” at the annual back-to-school event in 2013.  The lively solo earned a standing ovation from hundreds of educators and praise from Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor.

Walnut Valley wishes Adanna Duru the best of luck during “American Idol” Season 14!

Quail Summit student wins national chess tournament

Quail Summit student Jonathan Chen beat first grade challengers from different states and won the title at the National K-12 Championship in Orlando.

Quail Summit student Jonathan Chen beat first grade challengers from different states and won the title at the National K-12 Championship in Orlando.

By Walnut Valley Unified

A six-year-old from Quail Summit Elementary has garnered the title of national champion. Jonathan Chen, a first grade student, represented his school during the National K-12 Championship held in Orlando, Florida.

Chen won the first-grade division with a perfect 7-0 score.The contest was held December 12-14.

Players with the same scores were paired against each other during seven rounds of competition. Each grueling round could last more than three hours.

“I am very happy and very proud of the biggest trophy and national champion title for my school!” Chen exclaimed.

Chen hopes to start a chess club so that next year he can bring a team trophy back to the school! The youngster from Diamond Bar has been playing chess for about two years.

His father introduced the game to him at age 4. He’s had a coach since he was in kindergarten and earned the youngest champion award in the 2013 American Open.

Last June, he won the 3rd Place trophy in the International Youth Championship, under 14-year-old division, held in Las Vegas.

A classmate asked Chen how he won all the games.

“I think it’s because I have more patience and more focus,” Chen replied.