Pre-school students at the Foothills School of Arts and Science had a big goal to complete on Thursday, May 25.
"We want to siphon water up to the Afton and back down," said 5-year-old Joseba.
The project proved to be anything but easy. The kids had 200 feet of tubing, but needed a little assistance, so they made friends with a construction crew across the street from their building.
"It was great that they were interested and watching," said Jason Reisinger, project superintendent. "And they had some very intelligent questions."
Foothills teacher Carrie Little says the unlikely partnership between the students and the construction crew brought this project to life.
Working together, the students, teachers and construction workers set up tubing from the classroom all the way to the fourth floor of the Afton building -- 42-feet high.
"Pre-school children, I feel like sometimes in general, a lot of times we're looked at as a place to be cute or just learn the alphabet," Little said. "And we think learning the alphabet is important, but there's so much more to young children."
And while the kids weren't successful in siphoning the water up to the Afton, they switched gears and still learned a valuable lesson on determination, and managed to accomplish something still pretty cool.
The students were able to siphon water from the Afton down into their classroom -- proving that teamwork and problem solving transcend age.
"they've been great to work with," Reisinger said. "We couldn't have asked for better neighbors throughout this whole project. We're going to miss them for sure."
