Scout teaches sixth-graders CAD

KEESEVILLE - For his Eagle Scout project, Grant Weerts ultimately decided to return to his roots.

The AuSable Valley High School junior created an enrichment program to instruct a group of Keeseville Elementary School sixth-graders in computer-assisted design (CAD).

Weerts initially pitched the course to the school "with the hope that my project would fill a need for a sense of normalcy for students, teach them a skill and hopefully inspire students to consider engineering or design as a possible future career."

SAME OPPORTUNITY

Weerts belongs to Ausable Valley Scouts BSA Troop 8005 and has been with the Scouts since first grade.

He had initially contemplated doing trail work for his cross country as his Eagle Scout project, but shifted to developing and teaching the CAD course to ensure students had the same enrichment opportunity he had while a student at Keeseville, even during the pandemic.

He recalled participating in programs focused on Spanish and tours of colleges and businesses. Sixth-grade teachers Julie Taylor and Christine Facteau have run enrichment for the last two years, and have typically focused on some type of technology, Taylor said.

"When Grant emailed me and asked about doing a CAD course, we were excited to offer something new and different for our students," she told The Press-Republican.

Taylor noted that the Weerts family sponsors the enrichment program each year, and how she and Facteau worked with Grant's brother, Ricky, last year.

Grant explained that Ricky assisted with an online course in coding and simple robotics.

DEVELOPED COURSE

In developing the six-week, age-appropriate program, Weerts looked at other CAD courses, including one he completed last summer through the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

He broke things down into units and specific projects, such as intro to sketching, which focused on 2D design, and work on the 3D shapes of a snowman and a model of a plane.

Students utilized Onshape, a free web-based CAD software package that could run on their Chromebooks. The course started out in a completely virtual format, then some students shifted to learning in-person with social distancing and masking protocols in place.

The teachers were present during all the meets, assisting students when possible and contacting parents to set up the program and update them on the goings-on.

"If we noticed that a student was behind we made sure that the student worked to catch up," Taylor said.

'COME TO LIFE'

After learning the basics, students were allotted the remaining classes to work on either one complex project or two simpler projects. Weerts then printed out the designs on his 3D printer in order to give the finished products back to students.

Some of those creations included a makeup brush container, a phone holder and a model of a fish for a fishing lure.

All the students said they really enjoyed learning about CAD, Taylor said.

"They loved seeing their projects come to life."

Keeseville Elementary Principal Mike Francia said Weerts' program was a great starting point to get students interested in CAD.

"That's huge when you can introduce a new technology to students to pique their interest and allow them to put their own twist on it."

EXPAND CLASS

Taylor described the six students who were selected for participation as dependable and hardworking, adding that they have been straight-A students since third grade.

"We also were looking for students who were reliable and willing to put in extra time and effort."

Weerts said he was impressed with how the students handled the course, remarking that they were mature for their age.

Though developing a course and getting it going was a challenge, since he had not taught something at that scale before, Weerts noted his experience leading Boy Scouts through skills like knot-tying and camping.

"I enjoyed teaching the class and I plan to teach it again next year probably," he said. "I would also like to expand the program to maybe offer it to not just Keeseville Elementary but also AuSable Forks Elementary.

"I've thought about teaching a more advanced class to maybe some middle schoolers or high schoolers."

NEXT STEPS

Since the course has been completed, Weerts must next have a follow-up meeting with Facteau and Taylor to discuss how the class went and how it can be conducted in the future, with the possibility of expansion, he said.

Then he will write up his final project report and submit it to the district Eagle advancement chair in order to set up a board of review.

"Once that is approved it will be sent to the national committee to be approved," Weerts explained. "This process will most likely be finished by the summer."

As he looks ahead to the college application process next year, Weerts, who is also a member of the Adirondack Engineers 4-H Club robotics team, is most interested in engineering schools. He specifically named Northwestern, Case Western and Georgia Tech.