Earlier this week our school was fortunate to be selected to host Joel Leonard and his Thorminator Challenge, who is in New Zealand as a guest of the Maintenance and Engineering Society (MESNZ) to speak at their upcoming conference.
The Thorminator Challenge involves small groups of students who are tasked with adopting the roles of civil engineer, mechanical engineer and forensic engineer. The civil engineers had to build a structure to keep an egg safe from the impact of the massive hammer which was wielded by the mechanical engineers. The forensic engineers then analysed the outcome of why and how the eggs survived, or not.
Thank you to local MP @andrewbaylymp for dropping by to check out our students gaining first-hand experience about engineering.
Joel Leonard is a leader in building pipelines of skilled technicians in the maintenance, manufacturing, and engineering careers. Leonard is taking modern manufacturing equipment into rural and underserved areas of the Carolinas to expose youth and adults to tools and equipment that can lead them to prosperous career pathways. In the U.S. jobs typically start at $18-$25/hour. With overtime, they can earn more than $100,000.
For over 20 years Joel has adopted the skills and maintenance crises as his life’s mission. From speaking at international conferences, speaking before US Congress, on CNBC, NPR, creating an online TV Show, writing hundreds of columns about solutions to skills gap and working in the trenches of building pipelines of skilled technicians in aviation, machining and maintenance sectors. In 2014 Joel helped set up a makerspace in Greensboro where 16 companies were formed, 9 patents filed and over 50 job seekers got employment.
