Students from the Shawnee Mission School District Recognized by GBA for Innovation/Engineering Excellence

In his exploration of 3D digital animation, Shawnee Mission West student Linden Stirk (left) took his audience on a journey around the globe. Linden used special effects and filters to best exemplify the climate and landscape of scenes of famous places to create his video animation. The project earned Linden GBA’s award for Outstanding Engineering Performance in Career and Technical Education. Judges noted that his work shows “dedication, creativity, and a thorough understanding of several sophisticated computer programs.”

Parker Henley (right), a 7th grade student at Westridge Middle School, received GBA’s Award for Outstanding Engineering Performance in Science. Parker’s investigation, A Study of Connection Types for a Simple Wooden Truss, studied how different types of truss connections affect the strength of the truss and its resistance to deflecting load under pressure. Parker’s project contained precise diagrams from which he built models to test the strength of the truss. He combined science, mathematics, and engineering to complete this focused study. It is no surprise that Parker is interested in the field of engineering as a career.

GBA’s Suzanne Berkey, Sandra Bachamp, Roman Bachamp, and Dan Abitz had the pleasure of judging these and other innovative entries in this year’s Shawnee Mission School District Research & Development Forum, which was held on April 28 at the Indian Creek Technology Center.

The Forum provides a wonderful opportunity for middle school and high school students from the District to showcase their very best science and technical projects. And as they have in the past, many of the students delivered amazing projects!  

GBA is pleased to recognize these outstanding students! Congratulations to them and to all who participated. The future is in your good hands!