MNIT joined Minnesota 4-H at their statewide Engineering Design Challenge. Around 200 youth from grades 3 – 12 from across the state gathered at Saint Cloud State University on Monday, August 6th, to showcase their elaborate constructions designed to “plant a seed and water it.”

MNIT Deputy Commissioner Jenna Covey participated as a judge for the competition, awarding blue, red, and white ribbons to students based on the sophistication and structure of their designs, their group presentation, their innovative ideas, and problem-solving skills. Deputy Commissioner Covey emphasized as a judge, she was planning to take a close look at the kid’s innovation skills. “How are kids solving problems and working together to solve those problems? It’s something that we’re always looking for at MNIT. Every day, we think about how we can solve problems using technology skills,” said Deputy Commissioner Covey.

MNIT further encouraged kids at the Engineering Design Challenge to engage with STEM as it relates to cybersecurity. Kids practiced creating cyphers and writing “codes” with Scrabble tiles, and they saw how botnets, viruses, and weak passwords can make a computer system “crash” with Jenga blocks.