Students with Mr. Zahniser's trebuchet

- Memories - On Saturday, October 16, 2004, the members of the BLACC attended the Catapult Contest held at Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, Mass. Various members had built small model catapults to compete in the "marshmallow" catapult division. However, we entered the "8-lb-projectile" catapult division with Mr. Zahniser's trebuchet. A team of six people, consisting of Vanessa Durand, Max Clermont, Mikail Jaikaran, Maritza Grooms, Jefferson King, and myself were part of the assembly of the trebuchet. We also had help from various other BLACC members including BLACC President Annie O'Brien, MassJCL Historian Rebecca Gwaltley from Notre Dame Academy, and teachers representing many attending schools. I thank them all. Assembling the trebuchet was a difficult task because the pieces were heavy, especially the 290 lb counterweight. Many of the holes on the trebuchet, through which the screws and bolts were meant to go, were not aligned, so many of the holes were screw-less. Also, acquiring the weight for the counterweight was difficult because I had to borrow weights from the school weight room. Transporting the weights home was most difficult, because only a jeep or a pickup truck would be able to bring all of the 290 lb weight. Believe me, it is best that you split the weight between 2 or 3 cars. When we had finally set up the trebuchet the best way we could, it was time to launch it. After setting the trebuchet to launch, the weights fell and the ball went 13 feet and not forward. The sight was pretty amusing, in my perspective, but it was still ok. As a group, we all decided to launch the trebuchet again, but this time, making the counter weight only 100 lbs. Although I already knew that 100 lbs couldn't throw an 8 lb ball, I was still willing to try again. This time, the ball launched successfully, but the counterweight was too light as I predicted, and the ball went -0.2 feet. That was fun. Overall, this whole process with the trebuchet went fairly well. I was in charge of anything pertaining to the trebuchet for the Catapult Contest. Although there were some hard times that drained me, I am proud of how well this whole process went. ~ Tahisha D., Grade 10

   
Students making a catapult.

- Memories -Last Saturday, a bunch of students went to the Mt. Greylock High School for the catapult contest being held there. Even though the weather was very cold, everybody’s hearts were burning, because we were so excited. Most of the students brought their own catapults and worked for the huge catapult of the school. There were about 20 people in the competition, so it was very hard to win. The competition began and every competitor was doing their best. Some of them did pretty well, and some of the catapults didn’t work, but the players were trying their best. They were so brave! Suddenly, we saw a very powerful catapult, and its deed was 92 inches! Its owner’s name is Madeline. She is a freshman of BLA. Obviously, she’s the winner. Bingo!!! After the catapult contest, I went to the Open Certamen contest. I was in Team B with two boys who were from Cambridge Regional Latin School. The questions were not very hard, but the three of us were shy and didn’t want to talk much, so we got a total of 30 points. We really need to learn how to communicate with each other. However, the trip was great fun! We enjoyed it! ~Yan Q., Grade 11


Open Certamen Contest




Maddie, first place winner in the Marshmallow Division, with her marshmallow catapult.
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Moriah with her marshmallow catapult.
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Alex with his marshmallow catapult.
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Mike and Brendan ready to go with their marshmallow catapult.
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