The Rapid Prototype and Manufacturing (rp+m) company has announced the winners of the inaugural South-Western Conference (SWC) Design Contest, which they have sponsored. Students in the SWC were challenged to design an innovative classroom product that was new or improved. The victors received a 3D printer from rp+m, and all of the natural educational benefits that come with it, for their classroom. Individual products from each of the schools had their designs 3D printed as a full size model.
Students from Amherst Steele High School, Avon Lake High School, North Olmsted High School, and Westlake High School competed in the contest. The students were asked to provide a written description outlining the features and benefits of their new product, produce advertising and suggest why consumers would wish to purchase it, as well as producing draft drawings, final renderings, and a 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) model, thus pushing the envelope for learning in the whole commercial design process. The designs were judged on several categories such as reducing cost, user accessibility, time efficiency savings, functionality and creativity.
Dana Foster, Marketing Manager at rp+m stated: “Our team at rp+m, including Matt Hlavin, is very passionate about this technology and we want to get involved with schools early on to introduce 3D printing processes to the students. Two years ago Patrick Gannon, Engineering Manager at rp+m, and I started working closely with classrooms and would bring in our Stratasys uPrint to show the students a 3D printer. They were learning about designing in 3D CAD, however, did not fully understand what happened after the design was complete.”
Junior Reanna Britting’s product was selected as the top placed design, leading Westlake High School to the team title. Britting’s winning design is a portable “Snap-N-Go” projector, allowing visual presentations to be made from anywhere in the classroom.
Denise Massey’s students Aidan Turley and Anson Bryant from Amherst Steele High School submitted a functional cup holder that is able to attach to a desk, Justin Lestock’s students Stoney Votruba and Chandler Anthony from Avon Lake High School’s product was an innovative customised cell phone cover with a pencil holder and Todd Eberhardt’s students Mike Justus, Eric Herman, Luke Janik and Dylan Irwin from North Olmsted High School submitted the Eagle Tracker: an attendance tracker which involves students swiping their ID prior to entering the classroom to help make attendance monitoring, and all of the health and safety ramifications that come with it, easier.
Foster says: “We would leave the uPrint in the classroom for a few days and students were amazed with the technology. According to teachers, students would come into school early, stay in the classroom during their study hall and would leave later than usual to watch the printer make their designs. Talk about engaging students! Needless to say, we wanted to do more.”
rp+m will be continuing, and growing, the contest next year and are seeking to attract other schools to the competition to stimulate learning and show just what professional grade 3D printers are capable of.
