More than 180 seventh- through 10th-graders from all over the Northwest recently attended Upper Columbia Academy’s second biennial Technology Fair. Following a general worship and orientation, each visiting student was able to choose two from the 10 outstanding workshops offered: auto CAD (Computer-Aided Drafting), automotive, aviation, creative threads, desktop publishing, fluid power-automation, photography, robotics, welding and woods technology.
Instructors included personnel from Walla Walla College, Spokane Community College, and UCA students and staff. All together, 18 UCA students assisted in making the fair a success. The visiting students loved doing something they could “get their hands on” and, especially for some, discovering a non-academic side to school.
Students were obviously impressed and excited about the program. In fact, when one of the instructors asked one young visitor if he would be attending Walla Walla College, he said “No, I’m going to UCA!”
Chuck Paulson, who heads UCA’s technology program and who organized this event, was pleased with the day’s outcome. “We want our young people to get excited about technology,” says Paulson, “but most of all, we want them to get excited about Christian education. The Lord has blessed us with a technology program that helps make that happen."
The computer lab in UCA’s technology building was recently overhauled, thanks to the generosity of UCA alumni and friends. This renovation is part of what makes it possible to put on a fair such as this.
Paulson was pleased, too, with the opportunity to have Walla Walla College so willing to partner with an academy in this kind of undertaking.
Just as the band and choral clinics alternate years, the Technology Fair alternates with the Gymnastics Clinic.
In the pneumatics workshop, students experimented with how a small amount of pressure, combined with the power of air traveling through tubes, can multiply force enough to do a big job. Air brakes on a bus is one pratical example of pneumatics at work. The class was taught by John Norman, a UCA alumnus who now teaches at Spokane Community College. (Jessica de Oro)
Working with the distributor helped this visiting student understand the ignition system on a V-8 engine. The automotive tech workshop was taught by Gary Glatt from Walla Walla College. (Jessica de Oro)
The creative threads workshop introduced students to the latest in designing and creating embroidery. Karen Mann, UCA home economics teacher, was able to scan the school's lion and lamb logo into the computer, digitize the design and program the stitches needed to embroider it onto a pocket. Each student in the class embroidered their name onto a second pocket, used the serger to finish the edges, then added fancy stitches before putting their jean bag together. (Jessica de Oro)
