With all the work done by area students during the annual Elementary Water Tower Competition on May 14 at Freedom Elementary School, it is no wonder they were drained.
Ingenuity was on display as students from 10 county schools were asked to build a water tower using only recycled materials. The competition was sponsored by the American Water Works Association.
McNeal fifth graders Eden Gibbs and Angelina Frazzoni took first place in the ingenuity class of the competition for their palm tree theme that included real sharks teeth decorating the project.
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Ty Dauphas, Zachary Snyder and Mark Parsons of Freedom watch water drain from their creation during the timing challenge of the water tower competition.
McNeal swept the top two ingenuity awards as Anja Schwarzbauer, Kaylani Pusateri and Jessica Kobetitsch, in the back row, were second with their sky high tower, while Eden Gibbs and Angelina Frazzoni were first with their palm tree tower.
Farha Matin, Muda Osman and Bella Perry of Braden River built an elephant water tower.
Braden River Elementary's Mia Merrell, Olivia Garland, Remy Lewis and Ansh Patel made their water tower a tribute to Mickey Mouse.
Imagyn Laraway, Yolis Gonzalez and Adriana Guerra of Bashaw covered their water tower in spiders.
Donovan Cinelli and Kage Jones, Bashaw fifth graders, used an Animal Crackers container to build their water tower.
Ella Miller and Kasey Barndt of Bashaw placed second overall in the water tower competition using an underwater theme.
Bashaw fifth graders Nathan Alpert and Derek Jones, in back row, and Angelo Campanale and Garbiel Alpert entered their alien water tower.
Audrey Roden, Sophia Stock and Ellie Barker of Braden River Elementary built a Pegasus water tower with fluff from pillows.
Ten Manatee County elementary schools competed in the competition at Freedom Elementary.
When their water towers weren't being judged, the students played games associated with the use of water.
Eden Gibbs and Angelina Frazzoni of McNeal Elementary won the ingenuity portion of the contest with their palm tree water tower.
Troy Vannortwick, Sean Conerly and Zachary Vannortwick, all Braden River fifth graders, weren't chicken to enter the water tower competition.
McNeal fifth grader Gabriel Hodge finds out how many drops of water will sit on top of a penny before it spills over.
Luis Flores of Daughtrey Elementary loads up an aluminum boat with pennies.
Bronson Empsall, Foster Matuszewski and Aiden Burrows entered a water tower complete with a working windmill.
Among the 10 schools to make the trip to Freedom was Palm View, represented by Alex Mendoza, Jimmy Bui, Alexis Lopez and Willianh Bui.
