This week was spent working off the main campus, and over in Kinston’s Global Transpark. I was fortunate enough to work with Mike Wilkins in the composites department, which is nestled in the Spirit Aerosystems Training Facility. I had visited this facility before but never realized there was a training platform found in the back of the building. (Keep in mind this is not the actual plant for Spirit, but a small training facility located in close proximity.) I spoke to the trainers and professors about job opportunities for their students, and common difficulties that students had in mastering the skills present in the course. To my surprise – the job market for these students is exceptionally bright, and the pay scale is impressive as well. There is no advanced degree required, and as they put it, “students need a high school diploma and to be able to follow detailed instructions.”  Students and individuals training in the assembly and fabrication portions again need to be quite comfortable with basic math. Tons of real world application here for fractions, measurements, percents, and conversions. Individuals could also benefit from knowing the basics on proper safety requirements in a lab or work space, and from being familiar with names and use of common tools and measuring devices.

This department is packed with tons of machinery and some pretty impressive tools and hardware. I saw my first autoclave and received a mini-tutorial on how repairs can potentially be made to planes using composite materials. There were tons of STEM applications in this department – from the composites themselves, the many applications of composites, the science behind their application, and more. I found the ‘more’ part quickly when we moved on to blueprinting, CAD software and 3-D printing. Mike and I did some digging and began compiling a collection of possible blueprint designs that I could use in the classroom. We also started playing around with some CAD software, and I quickly discovered I need a LOT of practice to begin feeling familiar with this before using it with the students. I found SketchUp to be fairly user friendly, and AutoCAD has some pieces I hope to use as well. Both, however, will require some getting used to. We decided that possibly having students look at blueprints, practice reading them, and then have them create some templates of common objects presented to them in class. We looked at the options of having them design parts or objects, and then enter them into the CAD program to be printed either at our school (assuming we get the 3-D printer) or by our high school students who are more familiar with 3-D printing already. Either way – blueprint design/reading, use of CAD software, and 3-D printing will definitely be on my list of things to implement into my STEM courses.

A very productive week for me – with LOTS of new things to work on and practice before implementing them into my course design! We were hoping to get to tour the actual Spirit plant, but unfortunately couldn’t make it happen this week. Maybe we can squeak it in at a later date before my internship is done. 😉