35.4°F  Website Login | Royal Oak, Royal Oak TownshipOctober 13, 2010Community service on an 'EPIC' scale
By Jeremy Selweski
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Photo by Philip Southern |
UHS students build,
donate computers to
local recreation center
ROYAL OAK TOWNSHIP — Chatting happily while seated in a small, mostly empty room, a group of students from Ferndale’s University High School waited patiently for 15 computers to arrive.
When the machines were brought in at last, the students wasted no time getting to work. Within minutes, they had connected the hard drives, monitors, keyboards and mouses at a series of tables against the walls, and it was official: The Royal Oak Township Recreation Center now had its own computer lab.
But this was more than a simple donation — these students had actually built all the computers themselves. Working in collaboration with Purdue University and its Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, the UHS class assembled more than 25 PCs, first donating 10 of them to Ferndale’s Grant Early Childhood Center before giving the rest to the Rec Center.
The project appeared to have a positive impact on all students involved. “It was great being able to do something to help the community,” said UHS junior Jason Davis. “We learned a lot about leadership and teamwork.”
Added junior Sanar Dougdoni, “Everybody knew what they had to do, and they got it done. It’s pretty cool that we’re helping people out and giving our school some good attention at the same time.”
According to Michael Thompson, EPICS high school evaluation and assessment coordinator, the EPICS program was created at the university level in 1995 and expanded to include high schools in 2006. Since that time, EPICS has worked with 49 schools across the U.S. and five more overseas, including a three-year partnership with UHS.
The purpose of the EPICS high school program is to enable students to complete innovative engineering projects while also addressing local community needs. It aims to provide opportunities to tap into the spirit of volunteerism and generate student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Thompson stressed that the idea for every EPICS project starts with the students. “We might guide them, but every community has different needs, so we leave it up to the kids to decide what to do. It really empowers them and teaches them about independence, critical thinking and problem solving. Every student has ideas for what they can do for the community, so the number of projects is really limitless.”
Helping UHS to get their endeavor off the ground was the Square One Education Network, a local organization that provides grants to K-12 schools for hands-on STEM initiatives. According to Square One Executive Orchestrator Karl Klimek, who has been working with UHS since the school first opened in 2005, EPICS is an ideal fit for UHS, where college-bound students are given real-world experience in engineering and technology.
“We want to provide them with a skill set that’s above and beyond what they can learn in school and enhance the community at the same time,” he said. “It’s a great way for these kids to use their training in a positive way.”
For the computers project, UHS students wanted to take a proactive, hands-on approach. As Klimek explained, “When we were discussing this idea, we decided, ‘Why just buy a computer lab? Why not build one?’”
And that’s exactly what they did: Dividing the class into five teams assigned to different tasks — coding, imagery, colors, content and customer service — the students constructed 25 computers using components from pre-existing PCs. In addition, they reached out to a number of local schools, community centers and organizations to determine where there was the greatest need for computers and established a website to promote their services.
“We made a lot of phone calls and kept everyone up to date on what we were doing,” said UHS junior Jasmine Garrison. “We were constantly e-mailing back and forth and staying in touch with our clients.”
Junior Yasmine Ibarra said that the project, which students worked on for nearly an entire semester, proved to be a unifying experience. “It really brought the class together as one,” she said. “We had to always be talking to each other and working as a team.”
For their teacher, Erica Alford, working with EPICS has provided a practical way for her students to apply what they’ve learned beyond the walls of the classroom.
“I love that they’re giving their work right back to the community,” she said. “It lets them really see what they can achieve. We talk a lot about theory in school, but for them to have hands-on experience and put together a project by themselves, I think it gives them the confidence to do it on their own in the real world.”
Klimek agreed. “These kids have been so focused, so dedicated to seeing this project through,” he said. “When there’s purpose to the learning, the kids get it and they rise to the occasion.”
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