Popular program was started two years ago
BY PAUL SLOTH
Journal Times | Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12:00 am
RACINE - Erika Castillo's eyes widened as an engineer gently questioned her about the prototype she created in class.
Some of her classmates at San Juan Diego Middle School grew restless with hunger right before lunch Wednesday, but Erika stayed and answered the engineer's questions about the project she'd helped design.
Erika, 13, an eighth-grader at San Juan Diego, 1101 Douglas Ave., learned what it's like to be an engineer like Matt Abbondanzio, who works as a product development designer at SC Johnson.
"I think this is a really good opportunity. I like the projects. You have to think a lot in order to make them," Erika said.
Abbondanzio wanted to know how the product Erika designed, with a group of her classmates, would work. It's one part of the creative process with which Abbondanzio is familiar.
"The best part for me is when the kids actually get it. They get excited to solve problems," Abbondanzio said. "The biggest thing is the thought process. You're working through the ability to solve real problems."
The school started its Young Engineers program two years ago as a summer elective for students interested in science. Organizers eventually decided to incorporate the program into the school's eighth-grade science curriculum.
Shirley Heck, a volunteer at San Juan Diego, said the partnership between people in the community and teachers at the school make the program successful, which is one of the reasons why they decided to expand it.
Six SC Johnson engineers worked with the class of eighth-graders on their projects, questioning their ideas and designs. The students learn concepts like aesthetics and ergonomics and how to apply them in designing their products.
The program crams the kind of work Abbondanzio does in a year's time into eight 45-minute sessions. It helps science teachers like Erica Barbe bring her subject to life for her students.
"It fits with what we're supposed to be doing," Barbe said. "It's just a really cool way of doing it, to put it simply."
The program helps students at San Juan Diego expand their horizons, too, organizers and participants said.
Nancy Lamothe, 13, has thought about a science career ever since she visited a woman's science fair at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
"I like being creative and building things and coming up with new ideas," Nancy said.
Nancy and the members of her group - Oscar Cavillo, Vicente Reynolso and Chris Nokkentved - all worked on sketching the prototype of their product, which they'll eventually turned into a computer drawing.
Each student contributed their ideas to the original design, but they had to settle on one, which is another important part of the program - collaboration.
Erika, like many of her classmates, enjoys science and this was her first time developing an idea and creating a product.
She wants to be the first scientist in her family. The nine-week program at her school is giving her a chance to see what that takes.
"I feel so excited and so happy that I'm going to be something different in the world," said Erika, who plans to take every science class she can when she begins high school next year.