EA made their first visit of the school year to the Milton Hershey School

Today we visited the 8^th grade class at the Milton Hershey School. We kicked things off with an assembly to talk about career opportunities available to engineers. With a school overlooking the Hershey Theme Park, the careers talk was perfectly themed talking about how engineers make Hershey Park possible. From designing the roller coasters, organizing efficient lines to reduce wait times, to concocting delicious treats to snack on, engineers are responsible for every ounce of fun.

First visit of the school year was a great success!

After the assembly we split up to talk with all three 8^th grade science classrooms. Shane Haydt and Kathleen Prilutski got the chance to go more in depth about the workings of roller coasters, learning about kinetic and potential energy.  Students then were challenged to design and build their own roller coaster, using foam tubing and marble passengers, an extra challenge was that it had to have a loop! After finishing the coasters, students took a ride on a virtual roller coaster made by Shane himself. The Oohs and Aaahs sounded off as if the students were riding a real coaster!

Boni Li teaches students about pitch angle to improve the efficiency
of their wind turbines

Amy Szabo and Mike Coia taught their classes about circuits and then had students design their own “squishy circuits” using play-doh, batteries, and various sensors.

Alfredo Ramirez and Boni Li taught their classes about alternative energy sources. Ending the talk on wind energy, students then tackled the challenge of designing the most efficient wind turbine. Testing the optimum number of blades and the optimum pitch angle student's found success and were able to lift over 20 washers with the power of their wind turbine!

A big Thanks to Milton Hershey for the Giant Chocolate Bars they gave us as a Thank you! It even inspired a trip to Chocolate World, which is right across the street. Some say the best part was the milkshakes, but I say it was the dancing cows teaching me how Hershey bars are made!