Nolan Menchaca
Throughout the 10th grade, we have done many hands on projects which I very much like. I have always been interested in engineering and many of these project increased my interest in mechanical engineering. These projects increased my interest in engineering because of how creative in math (specifically geometry) we had to be.
One major project during the 10th grade that increased my interest is the Energy Drink Project. For this project, we were to design and drink, container for the drink and a box to hold the containers. We were put into groups in math class so we had to work with people that we don’t normally work with so that was another interesting part to this project. When we got into our groups, we brain stormed with each other about ideas of the drink, container and box. Once, the group decided on a design everyone likes, we had to make a schematic to show all of the dimensions of the container and box. Once we created the schematics, we built a prototype of the container and box. In our group, we built the first draft of the prototypes with paper to see the general size of them. After creating our first draft, we made the final draft with cardboard because that is what we designed the box to be. We finished the box and container and the last step was to present the design and prototypes to our teachers.
During this project, I was in charge of making the prototypes and schematics. I enjoyed this because like I said previously, I enjoy hands on projects and this was very hands on. The prototypes are a good example of engineering and how it increased my interest. I had to be very precise with the measurements for the prototypes so they would be assembles nicely. I took a lot of time on it because I enjoyed doing it and I wanted the finished product to have craftsmanship. When I think about engineering, I think about creating a design from an idea and making that design into a working and physical object. Making these prototypes was very insightful into how I would be. Making the schematics was fun because I enjoyed drawing the design and taking the measurement to visual show how it would look. Then I most enjoyed turning that idea into an actual thing.
Having all these projects is very helpful to me because they keep showing me how much I like engineering and want to pursue that career field. I hope we have more projects in the future that are hands on so I can get even more experience with engineering.
