Idea Men: Pair of Avalon Students Win Regional STEAM Tank Challenge

Mark Moulder and Nolan Davidson

“Surprised and amazed.”

This was how Avalon School seventh-grader Mark Moulder described his feelings upon learning that he and his teammate, Nolan Davidson, won the regional STEAM Tank Challenge in April and would be headed to the state finals in May.

The STEAM Tank Challenge is a statewide competition that encourages students to apply science, technology, engineering, arts and math to solve or improve issues facing the world today. Open to K-12 public school students, the competition inspires students to make the country more sustainable, healthy, equitable, and safe.

This year, there were more than 405 applications from 325 student teams out of the 58 school districts participating in the STEAM Tank Challenge, which was created by the New Jersey School Boards Association and sponsored by the U.S. Army.

“STEAM Tank is sort of like ‘Shark Tank,’” says Catherine Krause, the Avalon School science teacher and STEM Club adviser who mentored the boys through the process. “Students can come up with something entirely new or look at something that already exists and modify or improve its use or environmental impact.”

For their entry, Moulder and Davidson invented a new and improved way to prevent turtles from attempting dangerous road crossings. Every nesting season (late May through July), hundreds of adult diamondback terrapins are killed on roads crossing or adjacent to salt marshes in South Jersey. In 2011, large black tubing was installed along Avalon Boulevard to deter turtle crossings.

Moulder and Davidson reimagined this barrier.

“Our project is a new generation of turtle fencing that is different from other designs,” they explain. “It is made to be level to the ground and to stop turtles from entering the road directly. It will be made of high-density polyethylene, which will be able to stand up to conditions, is cost-effective, easy to make, and very easy to repair.”

Krause elaborates on the advantages of the boys’ turtle barrier: “They’ve made it so it’s in sections, so if a part breaks, you don’t have to replace the whole thing. It also goes into the ground in a way that is easy to install. One person could install it quickly, homeowners could even put it in their yards.”

The boys’ newly designed barrier also goes into the ground in such a way that it discourages turtles from burrowing under it.

With all of these innovations, the boys’ project is even attracting attention outside of the STEAM Tank Challenge.

“They’ve met with The Wetlands Institute to discuss their project and they’re meeting with the environmental commission in town, too,” Krause says. “In fact, when they presented at the regional competition, one of the people on the New Jersey school board advised them to talk to a lawyer about getting a patent for their project and a nondisclosure agreement for anyone they talk to about it.”

These are all exciting developments for the boys as they prepare for the statewide competition, and their adviser couldn’t be more proud.

“They are two amazing young men who worked really hard,” says Krause. “I was watching their presentation and I was in awe of what a great job they did.”