Pandemic Provides a Senior Project at TCA
Talk about homework taking a real-world turn.
After the pandemic sent students home last spring, it also became an assignment for Trinity Christian Academy engineering class seniors.
In a typical year, their final projects at the Addison campus involve designing and building items to improve the lives of children facing illness or disability – perhaps a wheelchair lift or other tool to give to families with special needs children.
But with learning shifted online during the spring 2020 shelter-at-home orders, the final project became virus focused.
Engineering teacher Lisa Wong tasked her seniors with building prototypes for tools to help limit the spread of COVID-19 and to do so for less than $20 with items already in their homes.
“By teaching her students how to use engineering in the real world, (Wong) hopes to show her students that they can use what they learn in the classroom to make a difference,” campus spokeswoman Ashley Mungiguerra said.
In 2015, Wong, a Lockheed Martin mechanical engineer turned director of technology at TCA, saw a need to get teens involved in engineering. She started the first engineering class at TCA and the upper and lower school STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) clubs she still manages.
“Lisa is not focused on simply building the engineering pipeline,” Mungiguerra said.
Click here to view our 2021 STEAM Special Section
For nearly 40 years, People Newspapers has worked tirelessly to tell the stories—good, bad, and sublime—of our neighbors in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. To support our efforts, please contact advertise@peoplenewspapers.com for advertising opportunities. Please also consider sharing this story with your friends and social media followers.
