Scholars Day is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating students’ academic work and achievements. In the afternoon, students present on work they’ve done over the academic year. Over 50 projects were presented by students this year, ranging from research projects to real-life demonstrations.
STEM ambassadors recording their podcast. Left to right, Alayna Earle, Nick Brown, Turner Plumer, and Kailey Cronin. Photo by Dawsyn Wilson.
One group of students from the STEM ambassador course created a podcast, Outside The Lab, this semester. During presentations, they interviewed various students at their table and went around with portable mics. Engineering students created an autonomous golf ball retriever after they surveyed the golf team and learned how long it takes to manually retrieve every loose ball.
In Petra Kuppinger’s Everyday Sustainability course had a table that showcased the various projects from the class. Over eight weeks, students worked on individual projects. “I personally decided to make my own paper using recycled paper that I received from classes. Majority of it coming from Petra’s class herself,” said Allie Glassburn. After a difficult process, Glassburn was able to use her recycled paper to write, draw, and paint.
Last fall, students Cole Pugh, Mathew Bright, and Izzy Seipold built a catapult in the Ancient Technology and Engineering class. The group had to refer to sources and pictures from class to replicate an onager, a Roman-style catapult. “We used two-by-fours, some plywood as a lever arm, and lots of paracord as our main mechanism for the launch of our projectiles,” said Seipold. Bright and Seipold launched ping-pong balls to showcase their catapult’s throwing distance.
