Posted February 23, 2016

Students of SS. Colman-John Neumann Catholic School in Bryn Mawr participated for the fifth time in National Engineers Week (E-Week) last week by welcoming Boeing engineer Matt Palmer to talk with students about engineering careers.

He then guided students through the fun and challenging task of building an unmanned glider.

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During the 90-minute visit, students were given a brief overview of the nature of engineering work and the types of jobs available before taking part in building a state-of-the-art unmanned glider that carries pennies as cargo. The problem-based challenge encouraged student collaboration and creative critical thinking to design a solution.

“It’s always a thrill to inspire students and show them the potential they have to design cool things,” Palmer said. “There’s tremendous potential in the field of engineering to dream big and create technology that will lead the world into the future. That’s what we do at Boeing, and that’s what these students can do if they choose to become engineers.”

Cathleen Lamberto, school principal, said the Catholic school always looks for ways to enhance the curriculum and she was grateful to corporations such as Boeing.

“We are educating our students for a future that is unknown,” she said. “We need to incorporate challenging activities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) that require (students) to think critically, problem solve and design or work as a team. Having activities such as this helps our students to be prepared to tackle future challenges.”

Watch a video demonstrating the unmanned glider exercise here.