Egg carton madness

It only took a little bit of wood, macaroni, straws and other miscellaneous objects for 9-year-old Destiny Martinez to lose herself in make believe.

"I made a teeter-totter for the kids and they ate lunch on it -- they had macaroni," she explained. "The kids were laughing at the pig because it was backing into the milk carton, which was a ghost. They just couldn't stop laughing."

Destiny and her classmates from the Boys & Girls Club satellite program at Empire Elementary School went home on the last day of school with a "genius kit."

From the objects in the kit, the children were to make a special project and bring it back for judging Thursday afternoon.

"I thought it was going to be fun and when I was finished with it, I thought it was pretty," said Callen Aten, 5.

Callen made a hot air balloon, a pet house and a spider web from the yarn.

"Sometimes I like to look at spiders," she said.

Maria Wilson, site director, planned the kits after her own sons did similar projects as part of Boy Scouts.

"I saw how much my own kids enjoyed it," she said. "They get to use their creativity and their imaginations -- they're challenged."

Maria Cuellar, 9, was surprised by her own creativity when she finished her project of a person inside a house.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I made something out of my own imagination,'" she said. "I did it by myself."

Jeremy Dimmick, 8, was thinking more practical when he made a bird house out of his egg carton.

"I think the birds will enjoy it," he said. "It turned out pretty good."

The projects were judged by grade, then an overall winner was determined. The grand-prize winner received a super soaker sprinkler and the first-place winners from each grade chose a prize from among Silly Putty, a visor or a football.

Five-year-old Eissiel Lamas made a portrait of boy's face with the help of his brother, Isay, 10.

"My favorite part was putting the strings together to make the boy's hair," Eissiel said. "It was humpy."

About 50 first- through fifth-graders are enrolled in the satellite program and 22 participated in the genius kits.

Grand prize winner:

Anthony Vance

First grade:

First place: Jonathan Porter

Second place: Eissiel Lamas

Third place: Maria Cuellar

Second grade:

First place: Arturo Navarro

Second place: Armando Castro

Third place: Jesse Knight

Third grade:

First place: Alejandro Ruiz

Second place: Paulina Adrian

Third place: Ashley Masters

Fourth grade:

First place: Jeremy Dimmick

Second place: Caila Carewics

Third place: Destiny Martinez

Fifth grade:

First place: Andrew Vance

Second place: Jose Ayala

Third place: Maria Cuellar