Posted on August 29th, 2024
Victaulic’s Explorer Post 1919 provides students with the opportunity to explore a variety of Engineering disciplines such as Civil, Electrical, Computer and Mechanical, to name a few. Established to provide opportunities for local high school students to engage with professional, passionate engineers through hands-on activities, Victaulic is leveraging its world-class capabilities to provide training, inspiration, and guidance to the next generation of innovators. The Post 1919 program shows our community the world of Engineering: they design, build, innovate, and most importantly, engineers have fun!
Exploring programs bring together students who want to better understand a career path and organizations in the community which possess the resources in which to show them. For Explorer Post 1919, volunteers from Victaulic prepare an exercise each week that explores one of the many facets of engineering.
What to expect in Explorer Post 1919
In the 2023 Explorer Post 1919 series, students had lessons in mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering, among other lessons in the vast world of this career path. While they got to utilize their knowledge and flex their engineering muscles, they participated in a variety of activities.
In a session lead by Brian Sloan, students were able to utilize their engineering knowledge in a catapult-building competition, constructing their machinery out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, & duct tape. In another session lead byAndrew Sottilare and his father, students honed their electrical engineering skills by conducting testing using electrical tools and even got to power a light bulb using potatoes!
Another session, led by Daisy Gomez and Alaina Schwall gave insight into chemical Engineering. Daisy led an exercise where students could create slime, using a formula to make their slime bounce or stretch. Alaina led an aerospace engineering activity where the students designed and launched rockets!
The students competed against each other in a session led by Katie Smith and Devon Francis that focused on manufacturing engineering and lean principles. Students were split into two teams and completed a cupcake manufacturing challenge where the students implemented lean principles such as baseline, 5S and standard workflow to become more efficient. In return for their efforts, each student and volunteer got to take home their sweet creations.
Although the subject changes each week two things are certain; students who participate gain first-hand experience from practicing professionals, and they have FUN. Interested in joining our 2024 series? Click here.
