Engineering students present capstone projects at Union Station
Seniors Andre Vanmeerhaeghe and Cody Moose pose by their presentation of their prototype of Boat Brakes at Union Station on April 25.
It is a common sentiment among students to desire more independence from overbearing teachers in their schoolwork. For seniors in Engineering Design and Development (EDD) this year, that’s exactly what they got: a full year to design and test a solution to a problem of their own choosing.
Then, on April 25, the seniors presented their capstone projects to leaders in industry and higher engineering education as a part of the KC STEM Alliance’s Senior Showcase at Union Station, competing for scholarship money against students from across the KC Metro Area.
“I think it’s really awesome to see students work from beginning to end of solving a problem that they have identified themselves,” EDD teacher Miranda Young said. “It’s neat to see what they can do when they’re actually invested in something that they’ve chosen.”
Seniors Andre Vanmeerhaeghe and Cody Moose decided to design boat brakes to lessen crashes on the high seas, using magnets to deploy flaps on the underside of the boat to slow its forward momentum.
“I enjoyed it [Engineering Design and Development]. It was an interesting and fun insight into what the engineering world can actually look like, because throughout IED [Introduction to Engineering Design] and POE [Principles of Engineering], you do some projects, but you don’t really have the same environment where you’re given a problem, and then you’re only goal is to … solve it,” Moose said.
Balancing senioritis and other classes with an extensive design project with loose deadlines was difficult at times for the seniors in the class.
“The biggest one [challenge] I think is time management, especially when they’re seniors, and they’re given free reign on a year-long project … When other things come up, they want to work on Calculus or a different class … so it’s hard to stay focused and manage their time,” Young said. “They get to the end and realize they don’t have as much time as they thought they did.”
Students who are enrolled for EDD next year also attended the showcase to give them an introduction as to what will be expected of them in the class next year.
“After seeing all of those projects, it really made me excited for next year because I see … myself doing that same thing and collaborating with other juniors to make great things,” junior Aydan Vanmeerhaeghe said.
Andre, who is planning to study Aerospace Engineering next year at Wichita State, and Moose, who is planning on studying Mechanical Engineering next year at MIT, agreed that this project has direct applications to their futures.
“It [EDD] has confirmed that I want to go into engineering, and has prepared me for what projects might lie in my future either throughout college or in a career,” Moose added.
Meet Sam Hubert. Sam has been a member of the Green Pride for 3 years and is excited to take the helm of the newspaper as an Editor-in-Chief this year....