Generation Z’s Coming!

Last month we had the pleasure to sponsor the Industrial Technology High School Skills Competition from Iowa Central Community College. It's always great to be able to help young people pursue their passions and today we ask Jacob Sunderland a bit about himself. Jacob won first prize in the 2D CAD category.

Novedge: Tell us a bit about yourself

Jacob Sunderland: My name is Jacob Sunderland and I am a senior at Southeast Polk High School and I am going to DMACCnext year to major in engineering.

Novedge: How did you become interested in engineering and design technology?
Jacob Sunderland: I was introduced to engineering by my freshman math teacher and I started to look into engineering and find out what it was all about. I then got involve with the ACE Mentor Program and worked with actual engineers and learned about what they do on a day to day basis and help in a group project of designing a mock building.

Novedge: What kind of classes and/or programs in engineering and design technology does your school offer?
Jacob Sunderland: My school offers quite a few classes for engineering and design but I was only able to take a few. I completed Drafting 1 last year and I am currently in Engineering Drafting this year and it is one of my favorite classes. Like I mentioned before I was involved in the ACE Mentor Program which gave me hand on experience with what professionals in the engineering field have to face everyday.

Novedge: Can you talk about your project that won 1st place at the Iowa Industrial Technology Competition?
Jacob Sunderland:The competition that I competed in was the Intro to CAD. In this competition I was given a packet of ten drawings and was told to recreate them on AutoCAD as fast and as accurately as I could. The drawings were ordered from easiest in front and started to get harder towards the end. I was able to complete 7 out of 10 of the drawings and was given one hour to do so.

Novedge: What software do you use and why?
Jacob Sunderland: The software that I use is called AutoCAD and I use this because it is the software that my school provides us with and is the software that I have used for two years now and have grown quite familiar with.

Novedge: Who are you inspired by? Do you have a mentor?
Jacob Sunderland: I'm am most inspired by my drafting teacher Mr. VanWey I would also call him my mentor because he has taught me a lot about the software and how to be efficient with how I build things on it.

Novedge: What are your plans for the future?
Jacob Sunderland: I am going to DMACCfor a couple years to work on my prerequisite class in the engineering program and plan on transferring up to Iowa State University to finish out my studies in engineering. And after that I hope to find a job in the mechanical engineering field.