Behind the Fence that separates the old and new parts of Bowie, construction workers are building up. The third floor slab of the parking garage is being poured. The column forms on top of the third floor that supports rooftop tennis courts are being set up and concrete is being poured into those forms. The crane seems to always be moving, indicating the productivity of the crews. Plans and drawings for the renovated fine arts building are being finalized.

Engineering classes received a tour of the construction site, classes went to the contractor trailer where they were shown 2D drawings and 3D renderings of the building. Afterwards, the class walked outside the fence and the project engineers explained the ongoing construction to students and then answered their questions.

“We showed them the 3D rendering of the building so they can actually see all the pieces and parts and I think that helped them see what the final result was going to be,” JE Dunn project engineer Amber Sanders said.  “We explained what the structural members are and seeing the rendering was very helpful.”

Sanders was impressed by the knowledge students in the engineering class possessed. She said she wishes there was an engineering class when she was in high school.

“I never imagined that high schoolers have engineering classes. It is not something that I had In high school, but it’s just awesome that they have it,” Sanders said. “They’re able to put their eyes on something that’s being built and they’re relating it to the class.”

Students like sophomore Chelsea Palecek learned more about the management of a construction project of this size. They were amazed at the complexity of the project.

“I learned it takes a lot more people and effort to design and build a parking garage than a lot of people actually think it does,” Palecek said. “They are balancing workers, materials, the weather and so many other things to make sure this project is moving along.”

The material students learned about at the construction site corresponded with the classroom curriculum.

“The students learned more about how things get built,  the project engineers talked about piers, beams and columns,” Madden said. “We’re going into that now and they are also learning about deflection so that was good exposure for them.”

A memorable part of the visit for students was when the crane operator lowered the crane hook down to the ground by where the students were standing outside the fence so they could get a better look at how it worked.

“When we were on the outside of the fence, they called the crane operator and asked him to bring the crane down,” Palecek said. “When he brought it down, there is this massive hook that things attach to, there were also many pulleys attached to the hook. We had just covered our simple machines course.”