Mount Jordan Middle School students James Edtl and Mackay Sorensen built their way to first place in Canyons School District's inaugural "Makers Got Talent" competition, a timed engineering challenge using wooden KEVA planks.

Two-person teams from five Canyons middle schools competed in the event, the Draper Journal reported. The district serves Draper-area families, and the competition's expansion could bring the challenge to additional schools. Indian Hills Middle School's Emma Mendes and Colin Hansen placed second. Midvale Middle's Susannah Dastrup and Tabitha Bradley, both seventh graders, took third.

The competition grew out of a student idea. In 2024, Indian Hills eighth graders Bryce Campbell and William Bangerter created a schoolwide version of the contest after discovering their school's new makerspace and its KEVA planks. With help from teacher-librarian Trina McGowan, the pair designed challenges, wrote judging rubrics and promoted the event through school announcements.

The original competition ran four weeks. Fourteen teams competed across rounds that included copying a build, constructing a marble run, incorporating LEGOs and completing a free build.

Canyons Digital Teaching and Learning Specialist Chandra Martz worked with the students and a district STEM team to expand the event districtwide. A grant from the Utah STEM Action Center helped provide KEVA planks for the program, according to the Draper Journal.

The district version trimmed the format to two rounds. In the first, teams recreated a structure from photographs, then modified the design. The second was a free build. Organizers removed AI assistance, among other changes.

"We wanted their creativity, their building, their skill to come straight from them," Martz said.

The free-build round produced designs including a hot-air balloon, a boat, a trophy and a pavilion inspired by the Parthenon.

Dastrup and Bradley's path to third place tested their teamwork. In the first round, they built a castle, adding taller towers and a bridge to balance the weight. In the free build, Dastrup kept trying to construct a balancing tower. It collapsed repeatedly. Bradley suggested switching strategies, and Dastrup eventually pivoted to building a KEVA-plank trophy.

The district plans to continue the competition and hopes to eventually include all eight Canyons middle schools.