8/25/2017 6:00:00 AM
August 25, 2017
St. Paul, MN: Chris Buse, Chief Information Officer for the State of Minnesota, served as a guest judge for the Minnesota 4-H Rube Goldberg engineering design competition on Friday at the Minnesota State Fair. 26 students from across Minnesota competed on five teams to design complex machines to accomplish a simple task: raise and wave a flag. Ranging from 3rd to 8th grade, student competitors applied critical thinking, creativity, innovation and problem solving in this non-traditional STEM learning event and had lot of fun in the process!
Buse presented certificates of accomplishment to each student, honoring their commitment to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) projects through 4-H at the 2017 Minnesota State Fair. Each student engineer’s participation in the Rube Goldberg competition helps foster engagement in STEM learning in Minnesota, and encourages other young people to make the critical connection between their own STEM education and a future career.
“Minnesota IT Services is proud join 4-H students and families to celebrate their dedication to STEM activities and education,” said Chris Buse, Chief Information Officer for the State of Minnesota. “We recognize the value of having students take time outside of the classroom to spark interest and engage with STEM in exciting new ways.”
Watch a short video about the Minnesota 4-H Rube Goldberg Challenge
“Building a Rube Goldberg machine was hard work for our team. It took creativity to solve problems when our ideas didn't work," said Emerson, a 4-H’er from Meeker County. “I learned that engineering is interesting and fun too. It was exciting to compete at the State Fair!"
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Minnesota IT Services, led by Minnesota’s Chief Information Officer, is the Information Technology agency for Minnesota’s executive branch, providing enterprise and local IT services to over 70 agencies, boards and commissions. Minnesota IT Services builds, maintains, and secures the State’s IT infrastructure, applications, projects and services. We work to set IT strategy, direction, policies and standards for enterprise IT leadership and planning. We also serve Minnesotans by connecting all 87 counties, 300 cities, and 200 public higher education campuses across the state on the MNET network. Through public-private partnerships, our team proactively protects the state’s information systems and the private data of 5.5 million Minnesotans.
4-H empowers youth with skills to lead for a lifetime. A program of the University of Minnesota Extension, 4-H is Minnesota’s largest youth development organization, growing leaders in every part of the state. Youth in 4-H collaborate with caring adults to explore hands-on projects in areas like science, health, agriculture, citizenship, and the arts. Mentors provide a positive environment where youth learn by doing. The 4-H experience is delivered by a community of more than 150 staff and 11,000 volunteers across Minnesota. Last year, 69,000 youth participated in Minnesota 4-H programs.
4-H grows leaders with life skills like confidence, independence, resilience and compassion. Youth in 4-H are 2x more likely to make healthy choices, 4x more likely to contribute to their communities and 2x more likely to be civically active. 4-H grows true leaders. Discover more at the University of Minnesota Extension website. For the latest on 4-H, find more on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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