2008 Rube Goldberg Machine Contest:
High schools to assemble hamburgers in wackiest-machine contest

(Go to the list of 2008 teams)

Students from 12 Chicago-area high schools will soon be digging through basements, garages and attics, scrounging for discarded doohickeys and left-over thingamajigs, then putting them together in weird combinations.

The event: Argonne National Laboratory's 13th annual Rube Goldberg machine contest at Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier.

The 2008 task: To build a complicated machine that takes at least 20 steps to "assemble a hamburger consisting of no less than one precooked meat patty, two vegetables and two condiments, sandwiched between two bun halves."

The date: Friday, Feb. 22, 2008.

More information: Full information packets, including rules and entry applications will be mailed to Chicago-area high schools in November 2007. If you want to be sure your school receives an information package, please click the "Receive info " link below and send us the following information, all of which is required:

• Name of faculty advisor
• School name
• School address

Receive info packet for Argonne's 13th annual Rube Goldberg machine contest for Chicago-area high schools.

Contest details:

• Entry address: Do not send your entry form to Argonne. Instead, sent it to Rube Goldberg, Inc. The address is on the form. If you misplace the form, you can download a new one here or at the Rube Goldberg, Inc. Web site at www.rube-goldberg.com. Alternatively, you may fax your entry form to Rube Goldberg, Inc. at 203-221-9277. Be sure to indicate that you want to enter the Argonne contest.

• Entry fee: Please disregard the statement on the Rube Goldberg, Inc. Web site that each entry must be accompanied by a $300 entry fee. Argonne has waived the $200 portion of the entry fee that Rube Goldberg, Inc., designates for each contest host. Instead, Rube Goldberg, Inc. will notify us as teams register for our contest, and we will send Rube Goldberg, Inc. $100 to cover the remaining portion of your team's $300 entry fee. This means that we will no longer be able to provide each team with $100 to defray costs of materials and travel.

• Number of teams per school: Up to two teams from each school may enter Argonne's contest.

• Official rules: Please download them at the Rube Goldberg, Inc. Web site at www.rubegoldberg.com/

Illinois State Championship: Details are pending for the Illinois State Championship, but we know the date and place: Saturday March 22, 2008, at the Chicago Children's Museum. Past Illinois State Champions are:

• 2007– Wilmington High School, Wilmington
• 2006– Maine Township South High School, Park Ridge
• 2005 – Morgan Park Acedemy, Chicago
• 2004 – Maine West High School, Des Plaines
• 2003 – William Fremd High School, Palatine
• 2002 – Plainfield High School, Plainfield
• 2001 – Plainfield High School, Plainfield
• 2000 – Plainfield High School, Plainfield
• 1999 – Maine South High School, Park Ridge

National High School Championship: The National High School Championship will be held Sunday, April 8, 2008, at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.

Winners of past Argonne contests and the tasks were:

• 2007– Maine South Township High School, Park Ridge; take a whole orange, juice it, and pour the juice from a pitcher into a cup.
• 2006 – William Fremd High School, Palatine; cut or shred into strips five sheets of 8½ by 11, 20-lb. paper individually with a shredder and place the shredded paper in a recycle bin.
• 2005 – Morgan Park Academy, Chicago; remove both old batteries from a two-battery flashlight, install new batteries and turn the flashlight on.
• 2004 – Morgan Park Academy, Chicago; select, mark and cast an election ballot.
• 2003 – Morgan Park Academy, Chicago; select and crush an empty 12-oz. aluminum soft drink can and move it into a recycling bin.
• 2002 – Plainfield High School, Plainfield; secure, raise and wave a national flag in 20 steps or more.
• 2001 – Plainfield High School, Plainfield; select, clean and peel and apple in 20 steps or more.
• 2000 – Minooka Community High School, Minooka; fill and seal a clear glass jar (think of it as a simulated time capsule) with models or samples of significant inventions of the 20th century in 20 steps or more.
• 1999 – Maine South High School, Park Ridge; place a regulation-sized golf ball on a tee in 20 steps or more.
• 1998 – William Fremd High School, Palatine; turn off an alarm clock in 20 steps or more.
• 1997 – Marist High School, Chicago; insert and play a compact disc in 20 steps or more.
• 1996 – Maine South High School, Park Ridge; plant a seed in soil in 20 steps or more.

2008 Teams

Teams entered in Argonne's 2008 contest are:

Gardner South Wilmington High School
Faculty Advisor: Michelle Englert. Student team members: Alexa Tarvid, Allan Wade, Heaven Kramer, Gwen Johnston, Matt Pasternak, Alan Cotton, Stephen Pasternak, Dean Gjerde.

Illinois Math & Science Academy
Faculty Advisor: Ron Hurlbut. Student team members: Cameron Breedlove, Alexander Drummond, Grant Skudlarek, Terence Zhao, Frederick Damen, Alex Munoz, Nathaniel Simpson, Forrest Landola.

Maine Township South High School — Team 1
Faculty Advisor: Jeff Downing and Jack Marino. Student team members: Matthew Abtahi, Rebecca Diaz, Cori Johnson, Emma Jane Thompson.

Maine Township South High School — Team 2
Faculty Advisor: Jeff Downing and Jack Marino. Student team members: Kim Daul, Wilson Funkhouser, Connor Simmons, Graham Stapleton, Lisa Widing.

Plano High School District #88 — Team 1
Faculty Advisor: Eliz Tabler. Student team members: Elsa Arceo, Laura Bocek, Nicole Clayton, Kalah Davies, Kevin Day, Rebecca Hallenbeck, Paige Love, Anthony Simmons, Steven Stark, Daisy Urbina.

Plano High School District #88 — Team 2
Faculty Advisor: Eliz Tabler. Student team members: Devon Bassett, Jessica Hejl, Kim Karpus, Justin Koczo, Taylor Loux, Tim Newkirk, Anand Raja, Ainsley Richards, Heather Riddle, Martha Rodriguez, Stephanie Smith, Jasmine Wright.

Alan B. Shepard High School
Faculty Advisor: Jeff Partynski. Student team members: Matt Bellassai, Jared James, Jen Ellison, Brad Valentin, Kyle Middleton, Mike Gabriel, Kelly Thelen, Mike Cossolino, Walter Schnoor, James Dreger, John Healy and Amelia Ferrarin.

Wilmington High School
Faculty Advisor: Diann Heck. Student team members: Nick Cox, Zach Cox, Chloe Brainard, Mike Dutra, Chris Hatten, Taylor Mancuso, Connor Olson, Travis Smith, Zack Van Duyne, Jake Zlomie.

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