Adams’s Design Center Lets Kids Build Stuff
Elementary School Grows Budding Engineers
Students Valera Mendoza (left) and Tessa Dilbeck work on an LED-lit story box at Adams school's design lab. (December 11, 2019) | Credit: Paul Wellman
Ben Caputo and Jacob Kourakis spend nearly every recess period at Adams Elementary away from the playground.
No, the duo from the 5th and 6th grades aren’t in trouble. They are building a model glider in the school’s design center. They’re three months into their project and currently working on the third model — they hope this one will fly.
The boys are building the glider with the Design Center’s 3D printer. They use a website, Computer Aided Design (CAD), for design templates — the same site professional engineers use. This specific project isn’t for a class. They’re just spending more time in the classroom because it’s fun.
