First Posted: 1/22/2015
LIMA — Some high school students in the area think there aren’t any jobs in Lima in the field they want to go into.
Dustin Halleck is hoping to bust that myth for the 17 students he mentors. Halleck, a research and development engineer at American Trim, works with Bean City Bots, a robotics team for high school students.
Halleck and other engineers work with the team, which has six weeks to build a robot and take it to a state tournament. Halleck said he hopes their involvement helps the students see that “there are jobs in these fields they’re interested in here in Lima.”
“It’s showing that Lima is not just a place to be from,” he said. “It’s a place you can learn and prosper in.”
Dylan Craig, 16, is learning more about engineering through the program, even though he’s not sure he’d like to pursue a career in Lima.
“I definitely think it helps me figure out what I need to do for where I want to be in life,” the Lima Central Catholic student said. He wants to go into mechanical engineering after college.
Being a part of the club is “really cool and fun” for Craig, who was involved last year as well.
“It definitely broadens my knowledge with building things and figuring out how different systems work,” he said. “(It also helps me) make new friends and brings everybody interested in this stuff together.”
Each year the team gets a new challenge. This year, they must build a robot that can lift and stack different sized storage totes as part of the “recycle rush” theme.
“They design and build a robot together,” said Katie Mefford, teen leadership development director at the Lima Family YMCA. Mefford works behind the scenes with the team to gather the thousands of dollars it takes to make their participation in the competition possible.
“Everything a kid could want to do to develop a skill in their future, we can teach them that,” Mefford said. “They literally get to design something from scratch.”
By working with engineers and businesses, students also may be able to get high school internships which could lead to jobs later on, Mefford said.
“I just knew if I had an opportunity like this at that age, I would’ve jumped at it,” said Halleck, who has worked with the team for three years.
American Trim is the “champion sponsor” of the team. Others sponsors are Procter & Gamble and Husky, which also have engineers come and work with the students.
“I’m part coach, part mentor and teacher,” Halleck said. “It’s really gratifying to see them learn and grow.”
While they’re building the robot, Halleck said they learn conflict resolution, problem solving, effective communication and hands on skills “you can’t learn in the classroom.”
Though students learn about a lot of skills in school, Halleck said this team allows them to apply those skills.
Dietrich Rinehart, 16 and a sophomore at Shawnee High School, wants to be an agriculture technician and said working with robotics will give him an edge.
“All the farming equipment is going into more computer technology,” he said. “It will give me an edge on knowing how to do things.”
To Rinehart, working on the team is like making a whole business plan.
“You get to start from the bottom and work you’re way up from the bottom learning things,” he said.
