I recently went back to the vocational school I graduated from in
South Carolina in 1976. I spent the day teaching the drafting 11th and 12th
grade classes. I took parts made on the Thermojet and our stereolithography
equipment. I also took some video of the equipment in operation. It was a
blast to see these students with their eyes wide open to technology they had
not previously been exposed to.
I think that you are never to young to be exposed to RP or any
technology. The feedback I received from these students was great! We went
for two and a half hours with no break, they were excited about what lay in
their future. I only wished I could bring them to Pratt & Whitney, Fl. to
give them a real tour. Made it well worth the effort I made on my time to
make a contribution to the school and teacher that had an impact on my
career. I plan on making this presentation on an annual basis.
I think industry as a whole would benefit greatly from being active
not just on the university level, but at the high school level as well. I
toured their classroom to find they were using old versatec pen plotters,
old computers and outdated versions of 2D (Yuck) Autocad. The instuctor is
doing the best he can with $$ he has to work with. If we want to gain good
employees later, how can we expect them to excel with old
equipment/technology. We need to start early to entice young people to
continue their education.
Rick Pressley
Pratt & Whitney, Fl.
Component Modeling Center
e-mail: pressley@pwfl.com
Voice: 561-796-5571
Fax: 561-796-5666
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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