Career Center Students Place 2nd at Engineering Design Challenge
March 16, 2009
GwdToday Reporter Johnathan L. Graves 16.MAR.09
On March 11, 2009 nine students from the G. Frank Russell Career Center competed in Project Lead the Way’s 2009 Engineering Design Challenge held in Columbia at the University of South Carolina. A team of three students from the Career Center’s Project Lead the Way program secured 2nd place in the Principals of Engineering competition and received a trophy for their efforts. Members of the team that won 2nd place in the POE competition included: Anthony Coleman, Larren Edwards, and William Augustine.
The other six students who traveled to Columbia to compete in this SkillsUSA sponsored competition participated in the events of Digital Electronics and Intro. to Engineering Design. SkillsUSA is a national non-profit organization that holds national competitions, where students display occupational and leadership skills. Schools that placed first at this state competition in Columbia will move on to the national SkillsUSA competition held in Kansas City this year.
In each competition, schools formed teams of three students but were limited to one team per school. Students were given approximately three hours to perform test, calculations, and solve equations on a specific design given to them by judges. For example, the POE competition asked for the students to determine the strength of a pin joint being used in a crane. Once the students completed their design challenge, they were asked to give a 6-8 minute presentation to a panel of professional judges from business and industry. Students were judged on their performance as a professional team, quality of presentation, and the overall effectiveness of the presentation.
“We practiced a lot here (Career Center),” Emerald student Jamie Rambo explained. “We got our assignment about a week before we went to the competition, so that when we went there we knew what to do.”
Project Lead the Way Instructor Marvin Hughes’ highlight from the whole event was seeing his students apply what they had learned in class, and their ability to use critical thinking skills to complete their tasks. Special recognition goes out to the students listed below:
Joseph Ficklin
Sabrina Esco
Anthony Coleman
Tyler Mann
William Augustine
Jamie Rambo
These six seniors have completed four years of the Project Lead the Way program at the Career Center, and all are planning on attending a four-year college to pursue a degree in Business or Engineering.
