Designs Complete: Orphanage in the DRC

The vision of the Providence Engineering Academy is to "inspire and equip students to find creative solutions to the world's problems through mathematics, science, and engineering, as imitators of a creative God." In accordance with this, the Academy recently became involved with a true situation that not only stretched the students' design skills, but showed them how they could bring those skills to bear on a world full of need.

Steph Fellows, formerly of Journeyman International, a humanitarian architecture program connecting university students with worldwide projects, came and visited our high school class back in early December. Steph shared of her experiences in places like Tanzania and the Congo, where she learned first-hand about other cultures and spearheaded various projects for students at Cal Poly.

After outlining the design process and giving several case studies, Steph zoomed in on an actual situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An orphanage serving 40 children had been gutted by fire in late October, and the children were living in various temporary settings. The operators of the orphanage saw this as a chance to build a more suitable facility in a better location, and they reached out to Steph to see if she could help.

The burnt-out orphanage, located in Eastern DRC

Steph gave our students the details of the new design, including budget, square footage, capacity, necessary spaces, and site location on Google Earth. They broke into six teams, and were encouraged to work creatively but realistically within the bounds of their constraints.

After about six weeks of class time, the student teams had produced and polished their final designs, which were presented to the class and sent back to Steph for her evaluation. Her summary comments said it all: "I have goosebumps! They did a phenomenal job!" She told them that she was "impressed by their work as well as the capabilities of young people." The students in turn were grateful for Steph's time and effort spent in delivering the project and giving summative feedback.

Gabe and Tys decided to put together a "recycled" design, converting shipping containers into habitable spaces.

Congo Containers

(Gabe Clark, Tys vanZeyl)

Jake, Isabelle, and Sarah Jane decided to go for a more traditional design, with two levels and a wide porch, focusing on creating a welcoming home for the children.

Eglise CBCA Bugabo Orphanage

(Jake West, Isabelle Marchand, Sarah Jane Robertson)

Aaron and Dylan worked on a clustered design, choosing to create smaller bedrooms to give a greater sense of privacy and individualism to the children.

A Home for Secure Comfort

(Aaron Satchwell, Dylan Duncan)

To see all six designs, you can view this poster.

We're proud of the skills the students are developing, and look forward to seeing how they continue to grow! From here, we are learning to use a different suite of CAD products, with a focus on designing educational aids within our own school. Stay posted, and keep being creative!

Visit to Moog -- Space and Defense Group

Last Friday, the students from the high school Providence Engineering Academy were privileged to visit the local division of Moog (rhymes with vogue). Mr Frank Mueller, a family friend of Aaron (one of our engineering students), received us warmly and spoke about his personal journey as a car enthusiast, university student, engineer, and leader in his field. Frank has worked on rocketry systems, testing equipment, cars, and heavy military equipment, for a range of American companies.

Students in front of the Moog building (no photos allowed inside--sorry!)

Frank then took us for a tour, showing us the machining facilities, electronics test benches, and heavy military equipment located in the warehouses connected to their office space. Unfortunately, we can't show you any photos of this part of the tour! Students gained a greater appreciation of the work that goes into designing the systems that keep our troops well-equipped, and they were fascinated to hear Frank's perspective as a Christian in this industry.

When the students were asked what was most memorable, Josh reminded us of Frank's wise words: never stop learning. Frank stands as an example of someone who has successfully balanced studies, an engineering career, his marriage, and his faith, and our students were grateful for all that he shared with us.