On Thursday, Sept. 18, five student teams from STEM School Chattanooga presented submissions at the River City Company for the upcoming Open Spaces revitalization event. The first industry partner to host an 11th grade PBL (project based learning) unit this year, the River City Company challenged STEM School student teams to participate in the Open Spaces event by submitting a window installation design and prototype.
"The River City Company’s inaugural Open Spaces event aims to add life to the traditional business district on the south side of the river by installing vibrant, electrified, interactive art pieces in vacant storefront windows," officials stated. The River City Company selected and funded approximately 60 winners from their applicant pool from across the southeastern United States during the open call in the spring. Through the partnership, the student teams from the STEM School were challenged to design and present a prototype for their own window installation to be displayed on Market Street alongside the other winning submissions.
At the conclusion of the student presentations, River City Company Program Director, Paige Southard, took the selection committee to a breakout room to decide which student team submission would win and gain funding for full implementation. The winning team was Justyn Carter, Noah Hamlen, and Sarah Payne for their “Robot Rock” submission. The installation features animatronic arms that faux play oversized instruments as passersby control them remotely by playing air guitar, air bass, and air drums from the sidewalk.
"The room was full excitement and disappointment as the winners were announced, but then, to everyone’s surprise, Ms. Southard added that, 'We had to select one winner because of our logistical constraints, but we were enamored with all of the submissions and would like to fund mini-installations of the remaining four submissions to be displayed at our kickoff event in October.'"
As a result, the STEM School student teams will have their interactive window installations on display throughout the event in October and you can see the winning submission on Market Street from October through January.