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WILKES-BARRE — Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Alyssa Lane on the electric shovel, Phuc Nguyen on the nail-fretted ukulele and, well, anyone willing to sit on that cajón drum and beat percussion.
“I said they could make a shed metal band,” Meyers High School teacher Keith Eberts kidded. “They made their instruments from stuff you find in your shed.”
Despite Lane never playing a guitar and having no memory of using a shovel, her instrument won first place in the school’s fourth annual Butwin Elias Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) awards Thursday, netting the sophomore $1,500. And, yes, it really does plug into an amp.
A single string stretches from handle to blade, where knobs control volume and treble. Part of the socket had been ground away and the wooden shaft sanded flat as a guitar neck (no frets).
“I have no musical talent whatsoever,” Lane said with a laugh as she plucked the opening riff of “Smoke on the Water.”
She also had no previous experience with a belt sander or a grinder, which she dubbed “the best tool ever” thanks to all the sparks.
The contest — named after two teachers — and the reward money come courtesy of the Iseman Foundation. “Everyone got at least $50 for participating,” Adam Iseman, Meyers class of 2007, said. “We gave out a total of $2,875 this year, I think.”
Adam is the son of Dave Iseman, a former Times Leader managing editor.
Adam works for Apple now, and the foundation is working to expand the contest, both by getting more money to give out and by setting up a fine arts award next year.
Entries are judged by a panel that looks for the best execution. Students have wide latitude on the types of projects, and can work on more than one.
Other entries? Junior Pablo Franco built a remote control car with “wood I found back there” (pointing to the neighboring wood shop). Iseman noted the motorized parts “were the same ones I used when I was here.”
Phuc Nguyen crafted his tiny ukulele with nails for frets. He also made the cajón drum.
Forest Nguyen opted for an elliptical pool table with a single pocket. Being an ellipse, if you set a ball in the right place and hit it without too much force, it should sink every time.
Senior Tim Snyder made a model car powered by a Stirling engine — a Campbell’s Tomato Soup can with a wood piston driven by the heat of two tea candles.
And senior Matt Yekel created a coffee table that doubles as a Nintendo game controller — he demonstrated by playing Super Mario Brothers. Along with using a 3-D printer for the arrows on the four-way button, he used a router, a wood planer, a hole saw, band saw, drill press and jig saw.
Sounds like he’s ready for a career in carpentry.
“No,” he said flatly. “I’m going to study history.”