Mr. Whittaker announced that Whit’s End would host its first annual Inventors’ Corner Competition. The contest was open to all ages with prizes awarded for the most practical, bizarre and fun inventions.

The competition took place on Saturday, and boy was it a blast! Contestants met in the Inventors’ Corner at 9 a.m. Mr. Whittaker set out tons of supplies — rubber bands, cardboard tubes, balsa wood, paper clips and lots of other stuff. We were allowed three hours to design and build our fabulous creations.

In the end, Tamika Washington won the “most fun invention” with a rubber-band powered boat. Trent won “most practical invention” with a weighted bucket that would not tip. (He gave it to Mr. Walton.) And Wooton Bassett won the “most bizarre invention” with a mousetrap that doesn’t kill mice, but instead, through the use of a tiny slide show, guides them on a virtual tour of cheeses from around the world before releasing them into a field.

Mr. Whittaker said he was amazed at how we all took a few useless items and turned them into things that were creative and valuable.

“God works that way sometimes,” he said. “He takes people who couldn’t do much by themselves and creates something useful.”

We figured Mr. Whittaker would have a point to all of this. He sure is smart!