Two-person teams from five Canyons School District middle schools competed in timed engineering challenges using wooden Kiva planks in the district's inaugural "Makers Got Talent" competition.
Mount Jordan Middle School students James Edtl and Mackay Sorensen took first place, as first reported by the Cottonwood Heights Journal. Indian Hills Middle School's Emma Mendes and Colin Hansen placed second, and Midvale Middle's Susannah Dastrup and Tabitha Bradley finished third.
The district plans to continue the competition and hopes to eventually include all eight of its middle schools. That expansion could bring the event to Butler Middle School in Cottonwood Heights, though the district has not specified which schools participated in the first round.
The competition grew from a student idea at Indian Hills Middle School. In 2024, eighth graders Bryce Campbell and William Bangerter became interested in the school's new makerspace and its Kiva planks. With help from teacher-librarian Trina McGowan, they created a four-week schoolwide competition with four rounds: copying a build, constructing a marble run, incorporating LEGOs and completing a free build.
Bryce and William designed the challenges, built judging rubrics and promoted the event through school announcements. They later helped Chandra Martz, Canyons' digital teaching and learning specialist, scale the concept districtwide. A grant from the Utah STEM Action Center helped provide Kiva planks for the program, Martz said.
The district version trimmed the format to two rounds. In the first, teams recreated a structure from photographs, then modified the design. The second was a free build. Martz said organizers intentionally removed elements like AI assistance.
"We wanted their creativity, their building, their skill to come straight from them," she said.
The free-build round produced designs including a hot-air balloon, a boat, a trophy and a pavilion inspired by the Parthenon.
Susannah Dastrup, a Midvale Middle seventh grader, spent much of the competition trying to build a tower with a narrow base that widened into a platform. It kept falling. Her teammate Tabitha Bradley suggested switching strategies, but Susannah kept rebuilding. She eventually pivoted to a Kiva-plank trophy instead.
Both students use Kiva planks regularly in the Midvale library during lunch. Susannah said she has been building with them for years, including at home. Tabitha started after watching her friend build.
Susannah said she plans to compete again next year and win.
