Carter Represents At UTK Engineer’s Day

Every year, UTK holds a competition at the Tickle School of Engineering for high schools across the state. Due to Covid-19, the competition was held virtually last year but the Carter Physics class had the luck to be able to attend in person this year. The day started with a presentation by UK’s first African American Engineering student and graduate; Harrold Conner. From there they made their way to the various events of the day. The team participated in the Balsa Wood bridge competition, the egg drop competition, and the spaghetti structure competition. The bridge was a competition of architecture in which the strongest bridge won. For the egg drop, each person had to create a project that would keep an egg from breaking from a 35 ft drop. As for the spaghetti tower, the team had to design and build the tallest tower out of spaghettis tape and string, then place a marshmallow on top. Each member of the team put in their best effort in order to succeed to great results. Leigh Ann Cannon, a member of the class and a senior here at Carter, said “Even though we had issues, our hard work gave us an advantage in competition. We were dedicated to our projects and the results showed that.” Their hard work did pay off; the bridge came in 5th and the egg drop came in 15th out of 66 entries. The students also had the opportunity to visit a career fair at the college. This exhibited booths from many engineering clubs on campus, along with companies there to advertise their area in business. Students even had the opportunity to participate in a simulated car crash that exhibited the job of a seat belt. The class encourages other students to take physics next semester, and participate in this enlightening event, especially if you are interested in an engineering field. Mr. Adamson, the physics teacher, encourages students to look into engineering because “Engineering is just professional problem solving, and there are a lot of problems that need solving in the world.” All in all, the event was a huge success; so if you see any of the students who participated in this event, wish them a big congratulations.