Jake Burga

S.T.E.M. club members Christian Williams, Jonathan Etherington, James Bruton and Erica King display their successful oil derrick, which held 240 pounds.

Several students from S.T.E.M. Club went to the OU engineering day on November 2. They participated in building contests, working in teams to build an oil derrick, airplane glider, paper tower and ping pong ball launcher.

Senior Erica King was part of the very successful group building the oil derrick, which was tested by how much weight it could hold.

“We got up to 240 (pounds) and we probably could have taken more but they ran out of weights. And it was a safety hazard,” King said. “It was quite thrilling, I enjoyed it.”

Though junior Jake Burga was not pleased with the results of the other contests, he said that going to OU was an important activity for S.T.E.M. club.

“S.T.E.M. club is improving its ability to be able to go out and do something like this; have fun, miss a day of school, and actually do something that’s S.T.E.M. related, engineering,” Burga said.

During the past few years, S.T.E.M. club struggled with a lack of activity because the members were trying to do too many projects at once. King believes that this year will be different.

“With our president Tayera [Ellis], we have been on the road to success and we have a set goal for everything that we’re going to do and I think that we’re going to get it done by the end of the year,” King said.

Senior Jordan Johnson, Vice President of S.T.E.M. Club, was glad that the members were beginning to get involved in the community. He is looking forward to future activities, including OU Math day, Engineer for a Day, and projects dealing with airplane construction and alternative fuels.

Overall, the trip to OU proved to be a valuable experience for S.T.E.M. club.

“I loved the trip and I can’t wait for the next one,” King said.