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June 2022

News for students, families and friends

Congratulations to Engineering Academy Class of 2022 For the past two rigorous and rewarding years, the following Engineering Academy seniors poured time and energy into their educations and prepared for success in whatever is next for them. The Engineering Academy staff and guidance board members celebrate their many accomplishments and look forward to following their progess. Congratulations Class of 2022!

Caiden Adams Grand Traverse Academy NMC & Michigan Tech University Mechanical Engineering

Jacob Barley Buckley High School Michigan Tech University Engineering

Timothy Blausey Benzie Central High School Bay Motor Products Electro-Mechanical Technician

Madison Brown Grand Traverse Academy Michigan Tech University Audio Production & Technology

Kass Caugh TC West Senior High School Michigan Tech University Mechanical Engineering

Carson Cheung Buckley High School Cedarville University Computer Science

Nicholas Coan Kalkaska High School Northwestern Michigan College Culinary Arts

Connor Dunn Buckley High School Michigan Tech University Mechanical Engineering

Bo Eyre Grand Traverse Academy Michigan Tech University Mechanical Engineering

Sam Fikes TC West Senior High School Northwestern Michigan College Physical Sciences

William Finnegan TC Central High School NMC & Wheaton College Environmental Science

Jeremiah Forro Kingsley High School Cedarville University Mechanical Engineering

Luke Frasier Buckley High School Next steps to be determined

Lily Kolbusz Kingsley High School Northwestern Michigan College Accounting 

Joe Leggett Lake Leelanau St. Mary Michigan Tech University Engineering Management

Ryan Novak TC West Senior High School NMC & University of Michigan Computer Science

Caleb Smith Schooled at Home Cedarville University Cyber Operations

Gabriel Southwell Buckley High School NMC & Cedarville University Computer Science

Makenzie Womack TC West Senior High School University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering & Business

Engineering Academy New Student Application is Open

There's still time for current high school sophomores to apply to Engineering Academy for the 2022-23 school year!

Challenging math, science and economics classes Prep for college and/or career in engineering  Technical skills and robotics Teamwork and innovative thinking

Engineering Academy New Student Application

Questions? Contact Instructor Tim Wheatley twheatley@NorthwestEd.org

Join the Team! Engineering Academy Instructor Needed Please spread the word that Career Tech is accepting applications for an Engineering Instructor at the Engineering Academy. The position is full time and comes with excellent benefits and the good company of wonderful students and colleagues! Apply Here

Hollianne McHugh Turns the Page Engineering Academy instructor Hollianne McHugh will be missed when she moves to her new position as instructor in Northwestern Michigan College's Engineering Technology department. Engineering Academy students who take classes at NMC may get to spend even more time with this great educator! North Ed Career Tech wishes Hollianne all the best in her next chapter.

Engineering Academy Wins with Polished Robotics Pitch  Engineering Academy students gave a well-polished pitch featuring a robotic greenhouse at the Northern Michigan Startup Week Student Pitch Competition on May 13. They won top honors and a cash prize. The team members below presented the concept for an irrigation system that supports sustainable agricultural growth: ● Timothy Blausey (Benzie Central) ● Samuel Fikes (TC West) ● Jeremiah Forro (Kingsley) ● Lily Kolbusz (Kingsley) ● Mackenzie Womack (TC West) Their workcell robot named “The Greenhouse Effect” received a Silver Award and a Honda Innovation Award nomination at the March 2022 National Robotics Challenge. The automated greenhouse concept uses mechanical and electrical engineering and computer science to maintain and harvest crops. Some of the competitors included teams from Elk Rapids High School, Traverse City Central High School and Traverse City West Senior High.

See the Record-Eagle Article

Robotics Teams Conquer National Robotics Challenge Following a semester of planning and building, Engineering Academy students earned several honors at the annual National Robotics Challenge World Championship in Marion, Ohio. This year’s event included competitors from 38 high schools and 17 colleges in 14 states and Puerto Rico.

The Manufacturing Workcell team won a Silver Award and was nominated for the Honda Innovation Award. Team members include: Timothy Blausey (Benzie Central) Sam Fikes (TC West) Jeremiah Forro (Kingsley) Lily Kolbusz (Kingsley) Makenzie Womack (TC West) The MicroMouse team won a Silver Award and its team members include: Carson Cheung (Buckley) Caleb Smith (GT Academy) Gabriel Southwell (Buckley) One of the two Robot Hockey teams won all of its matches and made it to the finals where they placed fourth overall out of 23 teams. Team members include: Caiden Adams (GT Academy) Madison Brown (GT Academy) Nick Coan (Kalkaska) Will Finnegan (TC Central)

The Autonomous Vehicle Challenge team was nominated for the Honda Innovation Award. Team members include: Kassidy Caugh (TC West) Bo Eyre (GT Academy) Ryan Novak (TC West) One of the Robot Hockey teams won a Silver Award. Team members include: Jacob Barley (Buckley) Connor Dunn (Buckley) Luke Frasier (Buckley) Joe Leggett (Lake Leelanau St. Mary) The Bot Ball team won a Silver Award. Team members include: Isaac Deneau (GT Academy) Ethan Schwabe (GT Academy)  See the Full Story

STEM Symposium The STEM Symposium was held at Career Tech and Engineering Academy students exhibited projects. There were six teams of juniors in the showcase division and five teams of seniors in the engineering division. While not a competition, the Engineering Academy teams ensure their Symposium project entries are competition quality. All engineering teams were interviewed by business partners during the event for professional feedback on their projects. In total there were more than 15 teams in the engineering division.

Mark Your Calendars! GTAMC Golf Outing The annual Grand Traverse Area Manufacturing Council (GTAMC) golf outing is Friday, September 30. Proceeds benefit Engineering Academy's robotics program. This event brings in thousands of dollars in support of education, collaboration and the local economy. Visit makegreatthings.org for information.

MTU Scholarships Awarded Seven Engineering Academy seniors have earned Michigan Technological University (MTU) scholarships for $1,000 annually. Congratulations to these students on their successful completion of Engineering Academy and acceptance at MTU! Caiden Adams Jacob Barley Madison Brown Kass Caugh Connor Dunn Bo Eyre Joe Leggett

Engineering Academy students are eligible for a $1,000 annual renewable scholarship at MTU. The MTU Partner Pathway Award requires that students successfully complete two years at Engineering Academy and enroll at MTU as first-year students. Career Tech and MTU partnered in 2020 to expand learning and exploration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Packaging Pros From concept to ship, Engineering Academy students participated in a packaging competition facilitated by the professionals at Grand Traverse Container. The goal was to teach them the steps needed to create protective packaging to ship clay pots from Traverse City to Denver without breakage. To learn the ropes, the eight teams of Engineering Academy "packaging consultants" attended seminars to learn about elements of packaging such as cost accounting, design, container testing, and box markings. They also toured Grand Traverse Container to learn the large scale manufacturing process for corrugated material. With a solid foundation, the teams designed, prototyped, tested, and packed their boxes. The teams who met the intial project criteria got to go to the company to have their boxes professionally produced and submit a bid proposal for consideration. The winning bid was created by the team pictured top (L-R): Skylar Werden (Frankfort), Lily Kolbusz (Kingsley), Bo Eyre (Grand Traverse Academy), and Joe Leggett (Lake Leelanau St. Mary), with Paul Phillips (GT Container). Pictured center: package prototype Pictured bottom: package testing 

Northwest Education Services Career Tech Engineering Academy 880 Parsons Road, Traverse City, MI 49686 Tel. 231.922.6273 |  NorthwestEd.org ‌ ‌ ‌