Engineer in the Classroom | News

Engineers in fifth grade? Definitely. And not just the cadre of volunteer engineers who bring science fundamentals to life in area classrooms each winter through the Engineer in the Classroom program. Students themselves learn an engineering approach to creating, correcting and collaborating on what they hope will be prize-winning Rube Goldberg machines at the spring talent showcase.

It’s great when the machines work. But a positive attitude helps when they don’t. Preston Paoni, a fifth-grader at Fairview Elementary in 2018, helped his team create a machine with an orbiting object. Numerous successful classroom runs came to a halt on contest day. It was a problem with the finely tuned tension, Paoni said after the final attempt. But he was so proud of the team.

“Everyone was calm, not nervous. I’d probably give us five stars on that,” Paoni said. He was disappointed but not distressed. “Sometimes you have to fail to learn and become better.” And, he added, the Rube Goldberg contest “is like going on your first roller coaster ride at Six Flags, upside down on the Batman … you get so much joy and fun out of this.”

That was then. This year, Paoni, an honor roll student, graduated from Springfield Southeast High School with two years of welding training from the Capital Area Career Center and a clear vocational plan. He wanted to work with his hands and didn’t want four years of college debt. So, he dedicated himself to excelling at a trade he thoroughly enjoys. He can already explain the fine points of every machine in the CACC workroom, earned the job of tool foreman and is headed into Lincoln Land Community College’s welding trade program. He’ll start working a job in less than two years.

Paoni is confident and articulate. “I think EITC helped me become fearless, especially in public speaking – to take a topic, delve into it in-depth and explain to people why I’m passionate about it.”

Graduating senior Abigail Peden was also a fifth-grader in 2018 and enjoyed a successful presentation of her class machine at the contest. Her class advanced and earned a trip to the University of Illinois engineering campus to see the high school Rubes.

Peden, who also graduated from Southeast, completed the CACC photography program this year and is heading to LLCC for a business course to learn how to own and operate a bakery. She agrees with Paoni about the benefit of EITC life skills training.

“Every day in photography, we have to create something to meet the assignment, sometimes with trial after trial to solve a conceptual problem,” Penden said.

“(EITC) was very interesting, something I’d never experienced before, presenting something we created ourselves. I thought, ‘Wow! This is something we can actually do, that kids can accomplish, too.” EITC taught her to speak confidently to a group on a subject and think on her feet.

Springfield High School graduate Ian Williams recalls his 2018 fifth-grade EITC experience. “It helped me to have more confidence in middle school and high school to solve problems. I don’t like giving up without trying all the options I have, to put my mind to it and complete every step I can.” Williams will use these skills as he helps in his family’s food service business.

Collaboration, problem solving, resilience and public speaking are all hallmarks of the EITC program. Martin Engineering vice president Adam Pallai, who has served as the program coordinator since it began in 2006, has seen these skills grow in more than 5,000 students thanks to the efforts of teachers, volunteer assistants, board members and engineers.

“EITC plants the seed of engineering so that these young little minds – who may not know what an engineer is, except the guy who drives the train – know it’s something they can do as they move through high school,” Pallai said.

Collin Smith was an EITC fifth-grader in 2011. He quickly came to love math and science and took as many high school dual credit math, chemistry and physics courses as possible. He volunteered in EITC the summer after high school, interned in an engineering firm, graduated college with a degree in civil engineering and is now an engineer with Cummins Engineering Corporation in Springfield.

“Engineer in the Classroom has been very integral in my career, every step of the way,” Smith said.

This year’s Rube had to open a book. Smith, now a team leader for EITC, said, “The benefit of EITC, even for kids who don’t want to become engineers, is learning to interact with a problem statement and a challenge – learning to enjoy the problem-solving.”

Smith said one student who started out on the side a lot, by the end, had a set of steps that were his. “It became his pet project. It was great to see him light up when he worked on it,” Smith said.

It’s quite a legacy for retired engineer Emil Cook, who brought the program to Springfield.

“STEM had not begun in Sangamon County at that time. So, there was an opportunity to get this project rolling,” Cook said.

Cook recruited schools, volunteer engineers and board members with a diversity of backgrounds to start and grow the program. These positive experiences at a young age, he said, can trigger students to see how these core disciplines can fit together into an interesting and successful career. “It opens minds,” he said.

It may be as rewarding for the engineers as it is for the students. Smith said of the class presentations, “It’s like it’s your own kids. It’s a thrill. Whether the machine completes the task or not on showcase day, the kids are super proud that they were able to do such a thing.”

There is a waiting list of classes hoping to participate in Engineer in the Classroom, but not enough engineers and assistants to help. For information on joining the program next year, contact Adam Pallai at [email protected].

Reading and writing coach DiAnne Crown is an EITC super fan who initially wrote about the program in 2018. She congratulates all of this year’s teams and wishes everyone well for next year’s adventure.