All it takes is straws and tape

I know I’ve been entertaining you with stories about my second husband and reviews about my new Crocs, but today I’m going to do a post just because it pleases me.  Maybe you’ll like it, maybe you won’t.  But please read to the end and I’m guessing you’ll be smiling just like I am.

Last night, the 4th grade had Science Night at our school.  Science Night consists of four competitions and each student team participates in one:

• Paper Airplane Flights — The students make paper airplanes and then each team gets one flight only.  Longest flight wins.
• Penny Barges — Each two-student team is given a piece of aluminum foil and a stack of pennies.  They make barges out of the foil and put them in a container of water.  Then they stack as many pennies in the barges as they can.  Sinking = losing.
• Straw Towers — Each team gets a pile of drinking straws and some rolls of masking tape.  They have 10 minutes to construct a freestanding tower .  Tallest one wins.  Falling = losing.
• Egg Drop — Each team constructs a 6″ x 6″ container and then puts an egg inside.  The eggs are dropped from varying heights.  Breaking = losing.

The 3rd grade does this too, but last year Graceful begged to be excused from participating because she couldn’t handle the pressure of performing in front of the crowd.  We left the final decision to the teacher, who allowed Graceful to skip it.

This year, Graceful once again lobbied her teacher to be allowed to skip.  He wouldn’t agree.  She persisted and reminded him of her stage fright.  He still wouldn’t agree.

On Monday, she pleaded her case with Pete and me.  At the same time, we got an email from the teacher, asking for our input.  The adults all agreed that Graceful would be participating whether she liked it or not.  Graceful was not happy about it, but at least she didn’t sulk too much. On Tuesday, she found a partner and they narrowed their competition choices to two. On Wednesday they decided on the Straw Tower competition.

On Thursday, Graceful had soccer practice and got home 10 minutes before we had to be at the school.  She quickly changed clothes and we sped off.  During the drive, I reminded her of the elements of a good straw tower — a wide sturdy base, lots of reinforcing in the middle, and then a skinny top.  We got to the school and Graceful dashed off to find her partner.

I should mention here that her partner was a boy.  Yes, I know.    But she’s known this particular boy since preschool and he hangs out with her crowd of friends, so I don’t think the girls really think of him as a boy at this point.

Anyway, Graceful and her boy partner put their heads together and finalized their plan.  Then it was time for the competition. The whistle blew and they were off.

The boy partner started working on the base and Graceful started on the middle:

About four minutes in, Graceful stopped working on the middle piece and started handing her boy partner pieces of masking tape as fast as she could rip them off.

By six minutes in, they started building upward.

By 7 minutes in, they only had 3′ of height. The team next to them was at the same place.

My heart was pounding so hard that I thought I’d have a stroke or something.  Graceful, however, was a cool as a cucumber.

At 8 minutes, they were at about 5′ feet when the tower started to buckle. Graceful reinforced the middle while her partner worked on the base.  The team next to them had more height.  The crowd was loud and getting louder.

At the 9 minute mark, Graceful and her partner were adding height.

With 10 seconds left, they got the last two straws in place.

The whistle blew and the teams stepped back from their towers.

Measurements were made:

Graceful and her partner’s tower measured 69.5″ tall — the winner!

The boy partner jumped with joy, while Graceful bowed regally:

The moral of the story:  The next time Graceful tells me that she can’t do something because of stage fright, I’m going to show her these photos and say, “Stage fright, what?”