Smith-Cotton High School freshmen went back in time, spending a couple of days researching and building working models of medieval weapons in their World History classes.

The students studied crossbows, catapults and trebuchets, exploring the weapons' origins, purposes and costs to create; they also created a T-chart of their selected weapon's advantages and disadvantages. They then created their weapon models, using wooden sticks, pencils, rubber bands and other common items. Once completed, the students then tested whether their weapon actually worked.
PIC1: As Milena Stevens, right, prepares to test their crossbow, fellow Smith-Cotton High freshman  Curtis Schirmann has high hopes that their weapon will fire successfully Wednesday, Sept. 19, outside World History teacher Caitlin Alexander's classroom. Their weapon fired successfully a couple of times, but failed on this attempt.
PIC2:  Freshman Alyssa Gannon assembles her model crossbow, using wooden sticks, yarn, duct tape and rubber bands.
PIC3: Jaiden Clark is pleased with a successful test of her model crossbow.
PIC4: While many students built crossbows for their project, Peter Aderman opted to create a model catapult with wooden sticks and rubber bands.
PIC5:  Victoria Heinaman, left, and Chris Kosifas put the finishing touches on their model crossbow before testing it.

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