OLPH Academy 3D design team place second in state competition

Students from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Academy (OLPH) 3D design team Natalie Wolnik, Mia Elizondo, Jeremy Alaniz, Isabella Perez and Alana Rouquette placed 2nd in the intermediate division (sixth to eighth grade) at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) 3D Design Contest held on April 5 in Austin. Winners were announced May 16.

“Students had to rely on critical thinking skills to create inventions that have a meaningful impact on the world,” said Noemi Gonzalez, OLPH 3D design team sponsor. 

Through the 3D Design Contest, supplied by TCEA for real-world problems, teachers encourage students to develop and design an invention using STEM thinking as well as 3D printer technology to engineer a solution for the good of mankind. 

"The competition lets students become the creators," Gonzalez said. "TCEA provides an engineering design challenge each year." 

Student teams entering the competition were expected to use the Engineering Design Process to create their designs. This process is a series of steps engineers use to reach their solutions. 

These steps were repeated multiple times until the problem was solved: Research Plan Prototype Document and Test.

Students were expected to carefully log their Engineering Design Process in a digital logbook, in the format of their choosing. Students met weekly for one month to discuss problems and create a logbook of all their notes and designs. Students printed prototypes and corrected details that needed to be improved. Once completed, students then created a commercial to sell their product. 

Once they met all the requirements, students uploaded all the information to TCEA website for the competition.