Weston Borosky, left, and Andrew Bertics, the two members of the first place winning team who edged out stiff competition amongst 11 other groups. Photo provided

Stanley Middle School's young scientists tackled the challenging task of dispensing hand sanitizer from a push button container in 12-14 individually customized steps at the biennial Rube Goldberg contest on March 31st. Sponsored by the Lafayette Arts and Science Foundation (LASF), the Rube Goldberg competition traditionally allows students to go beyond typical problem-solving and enter the realm of endless imagination. Each team gathers odds and ends and myriad mechanical gadgets to achieve its desired goal. This year's students spent about two months and somewhere between 50-60 hours to prepare for the contest. The students faced an extensive interviewing process conducted by Mike Meneghetti, the teacher who organizes and directs the contest. "Some of the machines developed were absolutely amazing. We are seeing some future engineers here at Stanley, said Meneghetti before he and three judges picked the final four winning teams.