Pullman student wins national poster contest

A student at Jefferson Elementary in Pullman has pleasantly surprised friends and family by winning a national poster contest and then donating $100 back to the school.

The school encourages students to participate in an annual school-wide poster competition. The top three winners can then compete in the American Statistical Association's annual K-12 poster competition in one of four categories depending on their grade in school.

Ryan Holder, 11, just completed fifth grade at Jefferson. He submitted his poster on "The Effect of Design and Launch Pressure on Paper Airplane Flight Distance" to his school competition. He went on to take first place in the fourth- through sixth-grade category of the ASA national competition.

Ryan said his friends and family expressed disbelief when he told them, including his parents, Larry Holder and Diane Cook, who are both computer science professors at Washington State University.

"We were a bit shocked, too," Larry said.

Larry said he and his wife weren't aware Ryan's teacher had submitted the poster to the ASA competition, but were excited to hear Ryan had won.

Ryan used three different paper airplane designs in his study - the Nakamura Lock, Spy Plane and Flying Ninja - that came from a paper airplane book. Ryan said his mother gave him the idea to use the book and helped him get started.

With some assistance from his parents, Ryan constructed a launching device that resembled a MacGyver contraption. The device was made from three rubber bands, paperclips and a wooden chair.

He said his favorite part of the project was launching the paper airplanes.

The study documented the distance each plane traveled under two different launching conditions. The first condition consisted of pulling the plane back 4 inches during launch and the second condition used 8 inches. His father described himself as the "measuring guy," and said Ryan documented all the data.

Ryan said he wasn't surprised when his favorite airplane, the Flying Ninja, had the farthest average flight distance. The study concluded that both airplane design and launch conditions affect flight distance.

Ryan was awarded a plaque, a Texas Instruments graphing calculator and $200. Ryan donated half his prize money to the school, and said he still has some money that he hasn't spent yet.

Jefferson Elementary School also received a plaque commemorating Ryan's national triumph.

Whitney Hilliard can be reached at (208) 882-5561 or by email to intern1@dnews.com.