How WTMA Lab Science Built a Foundation for College and Career
Written by: Elias Quintero
Former student, Elias Quintero, is a rising senior at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in Computer Engineering. His particular interests are embedded system design and radio frequency. His favorite WTMA lab was a physics experiment exploring the effects of friction.
My science lab courses at WTMA showed me that education is not just about memorizing scientific facts; it is about formulating unique ideas, drawing conclusions about scientific topics, and being able to understand them well enough to present them to others. In my biology and physics lab courses, I learned to design experiments and to write a lab report from scratch, complete with data, tables, and graphs. Being able to not just write lab reports, but to also present them with confidence had a profoundly positive impact on me and prepared me well for both college and my career.
When I got to college, I was surprised that I was not required to write any lab reports during my first year. It was only later in college that I started needing those skills that I had practiced in my classes at WTMA. In Microelectronics, a third-year class, my peers struggled to write lab and project reports. Many did not have the skills needed to write effectively, and they did not know how to formulate ideas, or how to present them clearly. I know that I had those skills because of what WTMA taught me.
Designing experiments and writing comprehensive lab reports in high school not only prepared me for university-level sciences but also helped my career. After working in two consecutive engineering summer internships, I can personally see the value of my WTMA lab science courses. I’ve given multiple presentations and reports on my work at the tech company where I am an intern. This is not intimidating because I know I can write about and explain engineering topics, and I know how to understand and prepare material well enough to present it. I am confident in my ability to take complex data and write an effective project report that executive leadership can easily understand. Without the skills and the confidence that WTMA gave me, I do not think that I would be where I am now in school and especially in my career. The Well-Trained Mind Academy has given me worth as an engineer and led me to success from the beginning.
Computer Engineering IRL
This is the inside of a replica Tron disc. It is programmed in C++ and uses a speaker and two strips of LEDs to create special effects.
Above is a distance monitoring system, which causes the haptic motor to vibrate if the sensor detects something too close. It uses an engineered power regulator, which converts 9 volts to 4.5 volts with minimal heat dissipation in order to power the Arduino.
This is a miniature electric car programmed in C, and which uses three sensors and a central processing unit to navigate.