My Senior Capstone was the teaching and revamping of the senior CTE Engineering Kerbal Space Program curriculum. Kerbal Space Program is a spaceflight simulation game, often used by educators due to its accurate physics model. I updated the software on all of the engineering computers, and I created a set of assignments for students to do. Throughout the process, I met with the Engineering teacher, Ms. Baruzzini, to coordinate and plan the lessons. I learned a lot about the responsibilities of teachers and the effectiveness of different types of teaching. During my teaching, I inspired multiple students to use Kerbal Space Program in their own time, which I consider a success. I believe this will inspire future SLA Engineers to pursue Aerospace Engineering.

Link to my Capstone: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iq084FQSbQJG35lJHnxRF1C1C6p3WyYt?usp=sharing

My capstone project was the creation of a small, compact drone from scratch and documenting my process to supplement TGR Learning Lab’s drone-making class. My process ranged from ordering printed circuit boards (PCBs), designing a 3D drone frame in Autodesk Fusion 360, flashing open-source firmware, and creating a demo for my mentor—who will be teaching this course.

There were many hiccups throughout the process—especially with soldering the microcontroller and flashing firmware—though I learned a lot about engineering design along the way. I found myself following the engineering design process, specifically through creating rapid prototypes of the frame and improving, with an iteration shown below. Currently, I am still working on flashing firmware onto my drone, as the physical part of my project is mostly complete.