Never mind building a better mousetrap. Students in the regional high school’s December engineering challenge were concerned with the cats.

Participants in the monthly meet-up work in teams of two or three to complete a design challenge in 45 minutes. The December challenge asked students to build a functional shovel using metals and rivets. Competitors then had to scoop kitty litter, carry it across the room and deposit it into a container. The shovel that transported the most pounds of kitty litter won.

Barra Peak and Sara Thompson captured first place with a shovel that held 7.1 pounds. Tony Breth and Nathaniel Horwitz came in second with 6.2 pounds. Kyle Joba-Woodruff, Jack O’Malley and Michael Schroeder came in third with 4.7 pounds.