Trine students demonstrate DET to Branch County freshmen

COLDWATER, Mich. — Four Trine University design engineering technology majors and a faculty member provided information and demonstrations to more than 500 high school students at the Branch Area Careers Center Career Day on Oct. 20.

Hosted at the Dearth Community Center in Coldwater, Michigan, the annual event was open to ninth-graders from every school district in Branch County, as well as guidance counselors and principals.

Trine students Morgan Hinderliter, Peter Klee, Will Neely and Andrea Rodeheffer brought examples of product designs from their classes and from internships.

“This year we really wanted to provide projects and demonstrations to help the high school freshmen more clearly understand our programs,” said Roberta Gagnon, assistant professor of design engineering technology, who accompanied the students to the event. “I was incredibly proud of our students, their enthusiasm and their representation of the DET program and Trine University. We also answered many questions about other opportunities at Trine.”

Gagnon said the students had displays of physical parts and assemblies as well as solid models of the designs on laptops.

“One student brought his 3D printer from our additive manufacturing course and talked about the use of 3D printing for design concept development” she said. “We also had examples of a reverse engineering project from ETD 113, mechanisms from ETD 203, and electronic devices from ETD 313.  I was really pleased with the number of K-12 students and staff who stopped to learn more about our program and Trine in general.”

The event included a total of about 60 businesses and organizations representing educational opportunities and careers in areas such as health sciences, engineering, manufacturing, industrial technology, human services, natural resources and agriscience, arts and communication, business management, marketing and technology.