Students in Albion Central School’s (Albion CSD) Tech and Multimedia Clubs joined their peers from across the state to compete in the 2024 Niagara County Community College (NCCC) Tech Wars.
On Wednesday, Jan. 10, more than 500 students from schools across WNY attended the event, honing their technical skills. Competitions included bridge building, catapulting, CO2 car racing, robotics, parametric modeling, and architectural design, among other specialties.
Each year, the Purple Eagles attend a series of three Tech Wars hosted between NCCC, Genesee Community College (GCC) and Erie Community College (ECC). These competitions provide students with the opportunity to work through the design and engineering process.
“Typically, students receive a project and work through an open loop design process, where they make the project, test or evaluate the project, and that is the end of it,” Kyle Syck, Tech Club Advisor and AHS CAD I teacher explained. “Because the three Tech Wars have similar, if not identical events, students can construct or improve their project multiple times and compete. This gives the students experience in a closed design loop process as well, which is what they will experience in the workforce most often.”
Most of the students from Albion took part in the 3D printed CO2 cars competition. Having become proficient on AutoDesk Inventor and 3D printing on MakerBot replicators, the students prepared for the event by participating in rapid prototyping, creating at least three versions of their competition car.
“The competition encourages students to think on their toes, and often out of the box, to come up with solutions to the challenges that are presented to them,” Kristen Vilinsky, Multimedia Club Advisor and AMS Tech teacher said.
Along with having fun at the competition, Syck hopes students get to see other aerodynamic designs and discuss with students from other districts how they went about designing and testing their cars.
Participants representing Albion CSD included: Seth M., William P., Brody V., Bryar D., Dennis M., Tyler B., Logan P., Kaiser A., Mason S., Drevon B., Bobby F., Aiden D., Brittany L., Julyan B., Hunter H., Lucas P., Landon T., Cole H., Seth H., William F., Aries W., Kylie C., Logan M., Amelia K., Andrea F., Kamryn P., Kendall P., Lena G., Avery F., Jose G., and Dalmas W.
Tyler B. and Bobby F. finished in the Top Six for the C02 car event and Kendall P. won a set of AirPods in a raffle!
Congratulations to all of our Purple Eagles who participated in the competition! Best of luck in the next Tech Wars which will be held at GCC on March 21, 2024.