ALTON - Marquette Catholic's team of Adonnis Hopson, Noah Spencer, and Derrick Thomas placed third recently in the country in a national IDEATE Engineering Design competition.
Their box folding device was designed to make the job easier for the workers at Project CU in St. Louis while also improving their self-esteem.
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Ten students, composing three teams from MCHS, participated in the IDEATE Engineering Competition. This is a nationwide competition that Marquette Catholic students started working on in October 2021, with the final project submission in February 2022.
This is the fourth year Marquette Catholic's Intro to Engineering class has participated. Course instructor Michele Sands starts the process by touring the company that employs people with disabilities to understand their processes and challenges.
"The reason I really enjoy this contest is the students apply their knowledge, create something of value, and see the impact they have first hand," Sands said.
Team Tristar Enterprise chose their design project from the "greatest needs" list created by Mrs. Sands. As with many projects, their original idea had to be revamped to meet the needs of their client.
Senior Derrick Thomas said: "having to adjust our project halfway through the process was challenging, but a good lesson because that is what is going to happen in real life."
A Marquette Catholic team with Will Talbot, Peter Kuhn, Abigail Gorsage, and Nate Buhs received honorable mention while Caden French, Brandon Noble, and Sam Harshbarger also did a great job, Sands said.
The designs from all three teams have been put to use and are assisting the employees at Project CU.
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