First Lieutenant Samantha Turner is the staff engineer in the CJ4, Logistics and Engineering department at the NATO School, Oberammergau (NSO) and a Alumna of New York Destination Imagination.

One of her main tasks is to plan and supervise the Air National Guard Troop construction program at the school in the summer. To get the community involved and kids excited, the CJ4 offers a day for NSO staff and faculty members to bring their children in to learn about construction and engineering. This NSO Kids Construction Day was attended by 18 children ranging in age from 2 to 14.

For this iteration of kids day, the children started out with a safety brief and an instant challenge with gumdrops and toothpicks challenging them to build the highest tower possible in 5 minutes time. After, we stepped back and looked at the tallest towers… and the kids discovered that the towers that were the tallest had the widest bases! We also talked about some structural shapes that are the “strongest” like triangles. It served as a great transition and something to get the kids int he right mindset for our tour of the job sites where we are building two vertical structures with large foundations!

NSO Kids Construction Day