Mutchmor students use science to win Snowphy Trophy

By Trevor Greenway

Kai and Tay Reeves had no idea that Science Week at school would help them win this year’s Snowphy Trophy Challenge in the Glebe.

The two Mutchmor students spent a week at school learning about levers, pulleys and simple machinery, and later used what they learned to build the neighbourhood’s top snowman, or in this case, snowwoman.

Their creation, Vacation Victoria, stands over 10 feet tall and boasts a Hawaiian lei, a seashell bikini, a sun hat and of course, a pool-side daiquiri. She’s ready for her Hawaiian vacation.

“It took a long time to make,” said seven-year-old Tay, showing off their creation in his back yard. “There was so much snow in the back yard, because it was building up for, like, four weeks and we just rolled it a little bit and it became so big.”

The two brothers aren’t 12-foot-tall basketball prodigies, so building a 10-foot snowman was a challenging feat. But applying what they learned from Science in Schools, the two built a large snow ramp to roll the top two balls onto the base. They discussed how the Egyptians did the same thing when constructing the iconic pyramids.

“I was really proud of them because of the fact that they had applied what they had learned from a visit for Science in Schools to building their snowman,” said their mother, Dana Reid. “And it was nice to see them work together to create such a wonderful creature in our back yard.”

The boys aren’t exactly sure where their vacation theme idea came from, but perhaps it was the fact that January was the coldest month on record in Ottawa, and February has been full of snow. According to Tay, Vacation Victoria made up her own mind.

“She needed to melt some way, so she decided to melt in a happy way,” he said.

“She’s going to Hawaii until the summer,” laughed his brother Kai, 9.

As inaugural Snowphy Trophy champions, Tay and Kai will have their names engraved on our spiffy Snowphy Trophy, which will be put on display at Mutchmor School. The kids also score some cool prizes from Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s, chocolates at Alicja Confections and movie tickets at Cineplex Lansdowne VIP. The two have pretty much already figured out the toys and the movie (Lego and Lego Movie 2). As for the chocolate, the boys spent their winnings purchasing treats for their Mutchmor teachers.

“I’m so happy,” added Kai.

The Glebe BIA would like to extend a huge thank you to all of our builders this year. We had some tough choices to make, but in the end, it was the boys’ dedication to applying what they had learned at school to build their favourite and biggest snowman to date. Honourable mentions go out to Boris the Stegosaurus built by the Tingley family, Ernie created by Jamie Wilson, and Chill Vanderfreeze built by residents on Rosebery Avenue.

Trevor Greenway is responsible for communications at the Glebe BIA (Business Improvement Area).