BROWNSTOWN — Building robots for VEX and Science Olympiad competitions and engineering classes.

Using a computer program to design items to make on a three-dimensional printer.

Learning about the various types of drones and how to fly them.

During Brownstown Central High School’s second Engineering Fair on Jan. 25, eighth-graders from Brownstown Central Middle School and seventh- and eighth-graders from Lutheran Central School and St. John’s Sauers Lutheran School had an opportunity to experience engineering and see if it’s something they would like to pursue in high school and beyond.

The first fair was conducted at the end of the 2022-23 school year, and teacher Luke Cobb said the number of students signing up for classes this school year increased 500%.

“Our freshman class this year had 25 sign up, so a lot of (his students) are freshmen,” he said. “It has helped a ton just keeping those numbers coming in now because we were so low for so long. The kids are like, ‘Hey, that’s awesome. I want to do that.’”

While the engineering classes are electives, Cobb said they are dual credit courses, meaning students earn anywhere from three to six college credits for passing each one.

“Project Lead the Way offers a ton of different engineering classes,” Cobb said, noting BCHS plans to add at least one more next school year.

During the Engineering Fair, students in principles of engineering (Engineering 2) talked about competition robots and demonstrated their use, while introduction to engineering design (Engineering 1) showed students the small race cars they built to see which one was the fastest and had the three-dimensional printers and some of the items made on display.

“We do a lot of stuff where they get to design something and then we get to print it,” Cobb said. “The best, I think, so far was they got to pick a teacher and they had to design a nameplate that they would then give to the teacher.”

There also was a golf putting game students could try that used a putter head with the Brownstown Central logo, and a computer and a screen were set up to demonstrate use of the Fusion 360 design program.

Seventh-graders from Lutheran Central and St. John’s also got to fly drones with BCHS students in the drone class, which is separate from Project Lead the Way and is new this school year.

Freshmen Ada Lanier, Carmen Herzner and Allie Barlow are on the BCHS robotics team, and they demonstrated robotics for the younger students.

“That way, more people can join it and get to see what all you can do in high school and after high school, as well. It can lead to all kinds of different job opportunities and degrees,” Lanier said.

“It has just got lots of possibilities, jobs, especially we can expand in the world of engineering, so I think that’s super awesome,” Herzner said.

Lanier also did robotics in middle school.

“It’s really fun because I like the competitions when we compete,” she said. “Then also, the building process. Building them is really interesting, and trying to do all of the coding for it is really fun. I’m more so building, at least I was in middle school, but now that we’re in high school, we kind of just do everything.”

Herzner said robotics has been interesting to learn this school year.

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” she said, smiling. “One of my favorite things I’ve learned about it is patience. You have to be patient while you’re making it.”

Freshmen Dalton Brazzell and Luke Reynolds sat at a table with plastic items made with 3-D printers, including Brownstown Central logos (including one with lights), a light saber, action figures, small ducks, Thor’s hammer and a tic-tac-toe board.

“Last year when we were in eighth grade, we had the same Engineering Fair, and I saw a lot of this stuff, and it all looked really cool,” Brazzell said. “I think all of this is cool. Hopefully, we get some more people in our engineering classes.”

BCMS eighth-graders Isaac Cockerham and Hunter Combs were among those attending the fair.

Cockerham said he used to be on the school’s robotics team.

“The building process was very interesting, finding ways to design and make it work properly,” he said.

Now that he saw robots in action at the Engineering Fair, he said he may consider getting back into robotics in high school.

“I think it’s pretty cool. I think it’s very interesting, giving us a chance to explore our possibilities,” Cockerham said of the fair.

Combs said it was great seeing the teamwork among the BCHS students while using the robots.

“Everybody is well put together. They all work together very well,” he said.

He also is considering taking engineering classes in high school.

“I’ve been interested in how you can use a little remote and make something 100 yards away respond almost instantly,” he said.