Nucor Corp. recently concluded its Strength of Steel Challenge with an awards ceremony in Charlotte, N.C., where eight semifinalist teams were flown to present their inventions to Nucor executives on June 10.
The competition invited middle and high school students ages 12 through 18 from Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah to participate. Entrants worked in teams of two to four to create a structure out of recycled steel that could be used to support another object or objects in the home, school, or vehicle.
The winning team—Jared Knobbe, 17, and Steven Fish, 18, from Imperial, Neb.—received the $3000 Nucor Future Engineers Champion Award. Their teacher, Kim Wilson from Chase County School, was awarded $250.
The Nucor Strength of Steel Challenge, which launched on February 22, 2011, during National Engineers Week, is an effort to encourage middle and high school students to consider STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines as a course of study and career choice.
Nucor worked with By Kids For Kids Co., a leader in youth innovation programs, to develop educational in-school activities for science teachers in the selected states to inspire their students to learn about steel and its importance in our lives, and to offer an opportunity for students to test their knowledge through competition. Nucor hopes to inspire students to think about careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
By Kids for Kids® promotes youth social innovation and partners with leading corporations to inspire product development, crucial technology skills, invention, and innovation in young people from 8 to 22. The company provides educational resources—curriculum and challenges—that promote social change, product development, and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Nucor and affiliates are manufacturers of steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the U.S. and Canada. Products produced include: carbon and alloy steel—in bars, beams, sheet and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; light gauge steel framing; steel grating and expanded metal; and wire and wire mesh. Nucor, through The David J. Joseph Co., one of the leading scrap companies in the U.S., also brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron and HBI/DRI; supplies ferro-alloys; and processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Nucor is North America's largest recycler.