Engineering students in the Lowndes County School District’s Career Technology Center (CTC) are branching out in more ways than one this school year.
After spending most of their first year at the CTC focusing on drones and robotics, the second-year students are going to immerse themselves in the world of 3-D printing.
In addition to learning how to use computers to create 3-D objects, second-year students are going to serve as mentors in the first year of the engineering program’s “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” program.
Instructor James Perkins said the idea to create a “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” program stemmed from the fact that there are nearly 30 first-year students and only nine second-year students and he wanted to have students who have worked with drones and robotics assist the first-year students in their work. He said the idea originated from student participation in a “Meeting of the Minds” discussion on ways to enhance the engineering program.
“There are so many applications for the things the students are learning,” Perkins said. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) is in robotics and AI is in drones and in the military. Our technology is changing so fast, and these kids are at a great age where they’re learning and we’re pushing them so much and they have a bright, bright future. I am really excited.”
Perkins and the students showcased their plans for the year on “Engineering Night” Thursday, where the students demonstrated how to operate drones and robotics and showed off how to design and execute projects on their seven 3-D printers. The evening also gave parents and those interested in the engineering program a chance to ask questions, tour the classroom and find out what the students will be doing this school year.
Kameron Johnson, a junior at New Hope High School, is in her second year as an engineering student at the CTC. She said she didn’t know what to expect last year, really enjoyed her first year in the program and couldn’t wait to come back.
“I knew I wanted to be an engineer, but I didn’t know what field I wanted to go into,” Johnson said. “I feel the time I have spent at the CTC has helped me get a better view of what career path I want to take in engineering. Working with drones and robots has always been a big love of mine, so I really appreciate the class.”
Johnson, who has an older sister, and a classmate have been paired with two students from New Hope High in their first year at the CTC. She and the other mentors met the first-year students last week at the team’s first practice.
“I hope it is even better than last year,” Johnson said. “We have a lot more teams and the size of the engineering program has doubled. I think it is going to be a good year. I am looking forward to it.”
Carter Cox, a senior at Caledonia High, is in his third year at the CTC and second in the engineering program. He said he enjoyed the “hands-on” aspect of working with drones and robotics last school year and is enjoying working with the 3-D printers this year.
“I would say robotics was easier than drones,” Cox said. “You could take the entire robot apart and put it back together. You can’t do that with drones. You have certain parts you have to use for the drones, and they (break) 24/7.”
Johnson and Cox were involved in the drones and robotics competitions last year, while Cox served as the “spokesman” for the CTC team, which means he would talk to members of other teams at events. He feels the “Big Brothers, Big Sisters” program will add a new dimension to the program.
“It is going to want to make the first-year students do it more and get better at it,” Cox said. “Last year, it was build, fail, build, fail and then when you finally had something that worked, you go to the competition and fail and build again. We know what we failed with, so we can teach them not to fail with that.”
Preston Ray, who will graduate from New Hope High in the spring, is in his second year as an engineering student at the CTC. He said he grew up around computers and decided to try the CTC. Ray plans to study computer engineering in college and is excited for the new challenges that await this year in the engineering program.
“I went in expecting I was going to have to do random math problems that nobody else wanted to do and all of this other crap,” Ray said.
“We have to do five to 10 ACT questions on the board and then we go into the computer lab and we use SOLIDWORKS (a computer-aided design and engineering program) and we do 3-D printing and we figure out things for ourselves. There is a lot of hands-on stuff. I love it.”
Perkins said all of his students are on both or one of the robotics and drones teams, and that his goal is to bring two teams to the drones state competition and to the state robotics competition. In 2023-24, the CTC had one team at both events.
“I am really excited about this year,” Perkins said. “Our numbers are growing. It is going to be a great year.”
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