Studentsbuildairplane asafter-schoolproject

Editor’s note: This article was published originally on Jan. 22, 2022.

BY AMY BOUNDS

STAFF WRITER

Space in the aeronautics wing of the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Innovation Center in Longmont is likely to start getting a little tight.

Aeronautics high school students are working after school to build a two-seater sport airplane in a multi-year project. The project, which includes “thousands of parts,” takes up most of a large, open room — and, as students continue the build, more room will be needed.

So far, they’ve completed the tail and now are tackling the removable wings, with a goal of finishing them by the end of the school year. The engine also is displayed in a lighted plexiglass box, built by a student, as a way to spark interest and encourage more students to join the work.

“I really like the hands-on part of it,” said Ashley Withnell, a Niwot High senior and one of the student leaders on the project. “You get to learn how to rivet and drill and use all sorts of tools and read technical drawings. I would come here after school and see how the mechanics work after learning about things like plane pressure gauges in my class.”

She added that she looks at the project as “a big Lego set.”

For the build, the students are using the Vans Aircraft RV-12 kit The Innovation Center purchased the kit through a $100,000 grant from Boeing.

Boulder High teacher Dan Zahner is planning to use the same kit to build a plane with his classes in the school’s Millennium Lab in the fall. Jim Bartlett, a Boulder High alum, is donating up to $100,000 to cover the cost of the project.

At the Innovation Center, the build project started last school year and is expected to take up to two more years to complete Between six and eight students consistently work on the project for two hours after school, twice a week.

Ball Aerospace retiree and hobby plane builder Dan Barry is mentoring the students. He said the project teaches not just building and engineering skills, but also teamwork and critical thinking.

“The major thing to me is all the teamwork,” he said. “When things don’t go right, they also have to figure out how to fix things. It’s a lot of critical thinking.”

Once the plane is complete and certified to fly, aeronautics instructor Josiah Slaydon said, the school likely will sell it and use the proPlease see AIRPLANE, 28 each other.”

P.J. Murphy, a junior at Silver Creek working on screen addiction, said it’s difficult to develop a solution to the problem. His group’s ideas included more strictly enforced policies at school, with students saying it has become “almost optional” to put your phone away during class. “It’s stupid to pretend this technology doesn’t exist, but students need to learn to use it in a healthy way,” Murphy said.

Lyons senior Zach Heil added lessons on healthy use of cell phones should be part of a required class in high school. He said he appreciated the opportunity to talk to people at the event instead of relying only on research.

“I like being able to talk and hear different sides,” he said Silver Creek junior Willow Rooney, who worked on the school resource officer issue, said she’s interested in working in government after high school. “This is a very valuable experience to meet these community leaders,” she said. “We’re all coming together to learn. I really like solving problems. I’m having such a good time.”