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Schools

South Orangetown Middle Schooler Reaches Engineering Contest Finals

Seventh-grader Mitchell Jacobs came up with an idea to protect against storm surges to earn a spot among five finalists in a contest for middle school students at the Lower Hudson Valley Engineering Expo.

Mitchell Jacobs wants to be a lawyer when he grows up, but the Blauvelt 12-year-old recently spent some time looking into how to protect against storm surges as a hobby.

Jacobs, a seventh-grader at South Orangetown Middle School, is competing in a contest for middle schoolers at this Sunday’s Lower Hudson Valley Engineering Expo in White Plains. The contest asks students to come up with an idea and design for protection from storm surges, and Jacobs is one of five finalists in the contest. The winner will be announced at the expo and will receive an iPad.

For his idea, Jacobs created a PowerPoint project detailing his idea, which includes building up dunes and dams to protect from the storm. He also had the idea to put a trench in front of the dunes, with a concrete base inside of the dunes to stop from erosion.

“The trench in front of the dunes would drain out so not as much water will be hitting the dunes, so there won’t be as much erosion,” Jacobs said. “And since the dunes would be higher and there would be dams in front of the walkways, it would stop water from going into the actual towns and destroying the towns.”

When trying to come up with an idea for the contest, Jacobs researched what was already in place to fight storm surges.

“I looked at what they were already doing and I decided on ways to improve on it,” he said. “I made them thinking economically, so they wouldn’t be that expensive. You could make the trench when you make the dune, by digging out the trench and putting that sand on the dunes, so you’re building up the dunes and digging out the trench at the same time.”

Jacobs knew about the contest because his father is an engineer and has a booth at the yearly expo.

“It’s always a lot of fun,” he said. “They had half a room dedicated to robotics.”

He decided to enter the contest for a few reasons.

“I wasn’t really doing anything, and I had a bunch of ideas in my head, so I decided to try and use them,” he said.

He worked on the project at home and during lunch periods in the library, along with Patricia Eyer, the school’s media specialist. He was the only student from South Orangetown Middle School to enter the contest.

“I looked up information on the internet and in books,” Jacobs said. “I looked up what was available to homeowners and just made it bigger so it could work to protect for a whole town.”

Jacobs said his favorite subject in school is science and he enjoys projects like the contest because of their problem-solving possibilities.

“It’s challenging,” he said. “I like being challenged. My parents are always around to help, but it was fun to try and come up with an idea for this contest with not as much help.”

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