For BSM students who don’t participate in engineering, the events that occur in the engineering room are a mystery. Through engineering, students have a lot of freedom to create their own projects and build unique things such as robots, surfboards, and fishing lures. BSM allows students to develop a strong passion for engineering, and turn their ideas into reality.
As a member of the “Engineering II: Advanced Design and Fabrication” class senior Nik Wahlstrom spends a lot of time in the engineering room. For the last few weeks, he and senior Nick Palmer have been working on creating wooden surfboards. On a normal day, Wahlstrom spends one to two hours in the engineering room working on the surfboards. This is because he has time in his engineering class as well as his free hours during seventh and eighth periods. A lot of work goes into building wooden surfboards. Wahlstrom had to begin by making a 3D computer model of the surfboard, so he had a blueprint on which to base his work. Then, once all supplies were gathered, he started working with tools and machines to sculpt the board. “I love doing this project. It’s super fun, and I’m doing it with a friend, which makes it even better,” Wahlstrom said.
Senior Otto Fischbach is a member of the robotics team. He is currently helping build a rescue robot that could be used in emergency situations such as fires. Throughout this school year, Fischbach and the other members of the robotics team have been working on adjusting the mechanical parts of the robot, as well as programming it to do its job. Fischbach is a crucial member of the robotics team and a big reason why the robot gets completed on time. “I’m a project manager, so I make sure stuff actually gets done in a timely fashion,” Fischbach said.
Senior Jack Hennen is a passionate engineer who plans on studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of St. Thomas next year. Hennen is currently working on a project to create a business that focuses on selling fishing lure molds. Hennen first thought of the idea for this project at the beginning of the school year. Since then, he has been working with a team of other engineers to create the fishing lures. “I like being able to combine my passion for engineering with my love of fishing, and getting to do both of those things is awesome,” Hennen said.