Langston Middle Represents SLPS in National Toy & Game Design Challenge (posted May 15, 2008)

Middle school students from the St. Louis Public Schools will represent the district on May 17 in the Sally Ride Science TOYchallenge™ 2008 Nationals at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in Alexandria, Virginia. Collectively known as the Langston Middle School Toy Team, Darille Griffin, Bryan Haywood, Karl King, Desiree Taylor, Daisha Walker and Shytavia White will join students from across the country to participate in the toy and game design competition that gives kids the chance to step out of their classrooms and develop their engineering and design skills by creating their dream toy. The Langston Middle School team is led by sixth grade teacher Judine Keplar.

For the competition’s preliminary round, the teams – comprised of at least 50 percent girls – submitted written descriptions and visual presentations of their original toy or game concepts based on themed categories including Games for the Family, Get Out and Play, and Toys that Teach. The submissions were judged on originality, creativity, feasibility, design process description, team participation and clarity of communication. At the nationals, one grand prize package will be awarded, and one team will also be named the category prize winner in each theme category.

TOYchallenge is designed to engage middle school-age students, especially girls, in science and engineering and to inspire them to pursue careers in those fields. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women comprise only 13 percent of the engineering workforce. However, studies show that, in elementary school, equal numbers of girls and boys are interested in--and good at--math, science and technology. Unfortunately, beginning around the sixth grade, more girls than boys drift away from these subjects.

Sally Ride Science is an innovative science content company dedicated to fueling girls’ and boys’ interests in science, math and technology. Dr. Sally Ride, best known as America’s first woman in space, founded the company in 2001 to create quality programs and products that educate, entertain, engage and inspire.