This year, plenty of clubs have started up, due to the aspirations and commitment of different students at Malden High School.
Recently, Alejandra Fernandez, a junior at Malden High School, decided to start a new club. MHS’s Engineering Club is a club where students can explore the engineering field in depth. “I wanted for a very long time to open a club where students could learn more about STEM and have the opportunity to participate in projects that can help everyone improve their logical thinking, critical analysis, and many other skills,” Fernandez explained.
The current treasurer of the club, Susila Wong, has always enjoyed engineering and the prospect of working together. She believes that “thinking for hours, and finally putting those plans into action to solve problems and overcome challenges is fascinating and satisfying.”
Wong explained that she especially wanted to be an officer because “I really wanted to do something to contribute and help shape the future of the Engineering Club.”
Megyn Ta, Vice President of the club, is excited to “help the club get off the ground somehow. We've had a pretty good turnout so far from the past few meetings, however, for me, I really want to get more people to join who are just into science and want to try something new.”
“Engineering Club is a way to bring together a community of like-minded individuals who share a common passion for engineering and provide opportunities to work together in building projects and socializing,” Dante Federico, Secretary of the club, explained.
Fernandez has high hopes for the club and hopes to accomplish plenty of things this year: “I hope that we can participate in at least one competition and complete different projects during the meetings. These projects that I hope to accomplish are related to different engineering fields, so everyone can spend time in the club researching and creating things that will be reviewed by Ms. Grillon,” Fernandez explained.
Wong is also excited to participate in an engineering competition hosted by any school. “As a club, I hope to put our best efforts into participating in a competition hosted by another school. Of course, I would hope for our school to win, however, what matters the most is that the members of the Engineering Club will be able to get something out of the experience,” Wong explained.
A member of the club, Belen Quispe Almendro explained, “I hope to participate and win one of the STEM competitions we are planning to do. However, my biggest hope is to greater my engineering knowledge.”
Plenty of potential projects have been brainstormed by Fernandez and Grillon “including one from National Geographic, a sustainability project in just Malden High School, and more. We have yet to decide on a specific project and will be discussing our choices together,” Wong explained. They hoped to start working on choosing a project and getting officially started quite soon.
“I also hope that we can get a few fundraisers for our clubs this year and also maybe join a few science fairs, potentially state or nationwide, but that's more for future projects that the members might have in mind. Generally speaking, as Vice President, I hope we can fundraise a bit in order to enter those competitions,” Ta noted, as she knows they will need lots of funds.
As a member, Almendro encourages others to, “join the club if they have a high interest in engineering or STEM-based careers.” She wants others to be able to work on this project and help her and the rest of the club with this goal of developing their Civil Engineering Project, for a competition that they are planning to host with the help of Grillon with other teachers possibly acting as Judges. This project will be worked on in small groups of students from the club.
“One of the projects that we will start to work on soon is a sustainability project related to civil engineering.” The goal of this project is for students to design infrastructure and civil structure. Sustainability, materials, energy use, controlling waste management, and limiting materials used all play a factor into the design. Then, a 3D model of their designs will be erected, and they will report their finding. “Students will also get the experience to include something in their most liked engineering field. For example, include lighting in their model as it can be part of the required solar energy use, which is related to electrical engineering.” Once all of the designs are complete, STEM teachers will review their work and choose a winner, Fernandez detailed.
Running the club has proved a great and quite exciting experience for the officers. “Now that I'm Vice President of the club, I feel a little bit overwhelmed because it's my first 'official' leadership position. I've been in several others beforehand, but never for a long period of time such as this club,” Ta explained enthusiastically. As the Vice President, Ta wants to learn from her fellow officers and club members. “It's the first year this club has been established so I really think that this is just the start of this club as we gradually move onto bigger projects,” Ta elaborated.
Federico noted his strong feelings towards the club. He “wanted to be an officer in order to build a strong club and help ideas and feedback be heard.” Federico went on to talk about how he looks “forward to building a strong club community and assisting in the creation of club events.”
Almendro encourages others to join the club: “the club will not only help you find your engineering passion, but also offers you many more engineering opportunities.”
Fernandez hopes that they will be able to work on this project with the students in the club, to help encourage new experiences. She wants others to use this club as a way to learn new skills, and share their passions for engineering and STEM.
