In The News: Newberg takes part in first Maker Days

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

Seven NHS students and two teachers collaborate with industry professionals to create electronic circuits

McMINNVILLE — As a member of the Newberg High School robotics club, junior Brandon Takahashi may have been one of the most experienced students at Innovate Oregon’s Maker Day Jan. 30 at Chemeketa Community College’s McMinnville campus.

Having already worked with the open-source Arduino microprocessors that were provided, Takahashi said he believes he was probably the exception, rather than the rule, at the pilot event, which drew students from middle and high schools across Yamhill County for a design challenge utilizing electronic circuits.

But the opportunity to team up with both peers from around the county and industry professionals proved to be well worth the trip for Takahashi and the six other NHS students who made the trip.

“So I brushed up on some things and learned some new things in the process,” Takahashi said.

The seven students are all taking Colin Schaeffer’s engineering design course, which is the second engineering class in a pathway that NHS established for the first time last year thanks to a grant from Project Lead the Way.

The group representing NHS, which also included teacher and robotics club advisor Terry Coss, participated in a training session on how to use the Arduino and various components provided for the design challenge.

In the afternoon, everyone split up into different groups with students and teachers from other schools, as well as industry professionals, to design a solution to one of many proposed problems.

Coss, for instance worked with students and an engineer from A-dec Inc. to create a chicken coop that used light sensors to detect when it was getting dark outside, open its door, count its chickens and then close its door.

Schaeffer spent most of the afternoon bouncing between different groups and was fascinated to see the different solutions teams created.

“I saw some kids from other schools who clearly looked like they had experience and they came out with well-thought-through solutions,” Schaeffer said. “Then there were other groups without much experience and they came up with a really simple and elegant solution to the same problem. ... It was like the idea that you could put 40 people in the room and give them the same challenge and you’re going to get 40 different solutions and all of them are viable.”

The event’s timing was good for the students, who just began working on circuits in class and got a bit of a preview of what they will be doing in the coming month, although using different equipment.

After each team presented their solutions, all students in attendance were given their own copy of the kits that were used, a $100 value provided by event sponsor SparkFun.

Takahashi, for one, might use his to construct his own quad-copter drone, but his main takeaway was the opportunity to connect with professionals like the engineer from A-dec who helped his group.

“This year was just the pilot year, so they didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out really well,” Takahashi said. “If people are interested in this kind of stuff, I highly recommend it.”