The 24 teenage girls in the Middlesex Community College summer camp program TechXploration have more than a ticket; they created their own amusement park ride replicas.
Left: Medha Patel, Edison, helps her team decide where to put the sign for their ride, The Juggler, on July 30. Their goal was to make a more interesting Ferris wheel at Middlesex Community College’s summer TechXploration program for girls. Above: Christine Geena (l), Edison, and Moriah Kunch (r), South Plainfield, affix the seat platform to an arm of their ride, Space Invaders. Working five days a week, six hours a day for four weeks in teams of six, they designed and crafted their own rides. Two of the four groups even wrote programs to operate the rides, using computer microchips. The teams then compete before a panel of MCC staff who will judge the best ride. They are judged on the basis of creativity, craftsmanship and marketability, among other technical aspects.
One team created a ride they called Space Invaders, named in honor of the popular ’80s arcade game, according to Shannon Brady, of North Brunswick.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ENID WEISS Karin Shmulevich, of Edison, said she and her teammates were discussing rides and thought of an amusement park ride called Chaos, which moves riders in one direction.
“We wanted to include more movements so it’s more exciting,” Shmulevich said. “The difficult part was agreeing on one project,” she added, as her teammates smiled and nodded while they worked on final touches to their ride on July 31. The ride seats were created using a 3-D printer.
She explained that the ride has three motors on the end to spin platforms around and has seven pneumatic cylinders to lift the ride cars up in the air.
The program is geared toward boosting the self-confidence of girls and encourages them in math, science and engineering fields, said Josephine Lamela, an associate professor of physics at Middlesex and associate director of the program. Lamela said the program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and is paid for with grant money, so there is no cost to the girls who are accepted. Interested girls begin the application process early in the year and are recommended by science or math teachers.
“All are going into 10th grade in September,” Lamela said. “They did everything on their own — design, building it using our workshop, programming, troubleshooting and putting together a presentation. We have counselors and staff on hand to help.
“It gives girls a safe environment” to explore science and engineering, said Jim Finne, associate professor of engineering technology at MCC. “I help with the technical pieces. They decide they need a part, and I say, ‘What do you need it to do?’ and we work it out. It’s helping them make something they need.”