Posted: June 11, 2026
Recently, a total of 51 youth participants from Chester, Fayette, and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania — along with students from Puerto Rico — participated in the annual 4-H Engineering Design Challenge, hosted by Penn State Extension.
Engineering Design Challenge - Team category
The challenge was open to all Pennsylvania 4-H members and was designed to foster critical thinking, creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills that can be applied to real-world situations.
This year's challenge tasked youth with designing a Rube Goldberg-style machine to raise the Big Top at a circus. Their goal is to turn simple machines into whimsical contraptions that complete an end task in the most creative and complicated way possible.
Members of the Pennsylvania 4-H State Council announced the competition results.
In the junior division, Grant Shaulis, of Fayette County, earned first place in the individual best machine category.
For the senior division, Maanya Malik, of Chester County, earned first place in the individual category. Nick Dreier, of Luzerne County, placed second.
The award for first place in the team category went to "The Orbitals," submitted by Ryan Díaz, Danna Santos, Chelsy Rodriguez and Dalianys Durán from Cidra, Puerto Rico.
"The challenge gives participants the chance to think like engineers — coming up with potential solutions, building prototypes, testing them, making adaptations and redesigning as necessary," said Toni Stuetz, 4-H youth development educator with Penn State Extension in Chester County
To learn more about STEM opportunities within the 4-H program, Stuetz recommends that students reach out to their local 4-H extension educators.
Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a nonformal educational youth-development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps young people develop knowledge and skills to become capable, caring and contributing citizens. To find your local program, visit the Pennsylvania 4-H website.
