Frank Benson
An open-ended history assignment gave this future business major the opportunity to think big – REALLY big. And he probably shocked his teacher. Instead of writing a paper or making a presentation, Frank Benson built a 21-foot, 750-pound working replica of the trebuchet, an ancient catapult-like weapon. Really. He says, “I had always been involved in building large-scale contraptions and inventions, so this assignment let me put my skills to the test and produce something radical.” He didn’t use any plans because he wanted a higher-functioning trebuchet and he also set it on wheels. Spending hours balancing the counterweight and fulcrum weight, he says the project taught him a lot about the engineering and physics behind trebuchets.