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WSVH students launch themselves back into the Middle Ages

Video

Flinging Fun

View video of students at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped testing trebuchets they made as part of a summer school program. Click to play

Photo

Photo by Al Hoch

Nick Dykhuizen, 15, sets the trigger Friday on a trebuchet at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped. The students built the medieval catapults as part of a summer school program.

Photo

Photo by Al Hoch

Nick Dykhuizen pulls the rope that launches his trebuchet.

JANESVILLE — Memo to self: Refortify castle wall; those kids are at it again.

On Friday, students at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped (WSVH) were out on the athletic fields testing trebuchets they made as part of “Troubadours and Trebuchets,” a summer school program.

A trebuchet is a type of catapult used in medieval times to fling objects at an enemy’s fortress. Ammunition could include items such as 250-pound stones, dead bodies—especially if they were from the enemy’s camp—and anything on fire.

Here’s the scary part: Those summer school kids created surprisingly effective siege machines.

Cassie Grassnickle, Zach Mann, Yonancin “Yo” Pena created a trebuchet that flung a golf ball 180 feet.

“It’s about adjusting the prong and the counterweight,” Cassie said sweetly, as though she hadn’t just made something that could hurl an adult raccoon two city blocks.

Lee Gamble, who teaches math and science, said building the model trebuchets was a way to teach kids some of the basic principles of physical science and physics. The counterweight is an example of potential or stored energy; the machine is a type of lever, and mathematical calculations help balance all the trebuchet’s different functions.

The students also ran computer simulations on the machines.

The trebuchet consists of a long post with a weight on one end and a sling on the other. The post is set on a pivot in a stabilizing frame. An item is placed in the sling, and the post is rotated until the weight is at the top of the post. As the weight drops, it spins the post around, launching the item into the air.

Of course, if your calculations are off, you’ll end up with the ammunition on your head.

At the end of Friday’s demonstration, the students received “Certificates of Apprentice Graduation” printed in type and in Braille.

Although the trebuchets will stay at the school, the students went home armed—but probably not dangerous—with their knowledge.

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To see video of the event, go the Gazette's multimedia section and click on "Flinging fun."

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A royal experience

Summer school at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped (WSVH) wasn’t all troubadours and trebuchets—that was just for the older kids.

Younger students participated in “Folk Art, Fables and Fantasies,” a program designed to introduce them to the traditions and history of the medieval and renaissance times.

In other words, it was a lot of fun designed to disguise the fact that they were learning.

Students took a trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha and wrote about their experiences. Their stories were on display in front of variety of artwork including personalized shields, castles made with real stones and drawings.

Here’s what the “knights” and “ladies” had to say about their experience:

Sir Elijah Wagner: “My favorite thing was a suit of armor pointing out. That was my favorite thing.”

Sir Chris Mathews: “The Bristol Faire fits anyone’s personality that has an interest in the Middle Ages and superstitions.”

Mathews later confessed that his favorite part of camp was the chess and checkers games. He came in second in the chess tournament. At home, he’s trying to teach his 5-year-old brother to play.

Lady Sophia Keil: “My favorite place was the candy shop.”

Lady Rachel Dykhuizen: “I won a ticket for one of three rides. The rides were called the ‘barrel spin,’ the ‘hurler’ and the ‘crow’s nest.’”

Sir Daniel Jones: His favorite part of the fair was the guy who asked him to fight. “We kept walking,” Jones said.

Sure, all that was pretty cool, but what was the best part of camp?

Chuck Aprahamian, one of the older students, summed it up succinctly: “The teachers were great.”