Business owner plans for different career

Benjamin School graduate Roberto Lama reveals he has competed internationally in chess, among other tidbits.

Roberto Lama wakes up at 5:45 a.m. to start his first 3-D printing project of the day. It’s early; he has a full day of classes ahead of him, followed by clubs and sports practice before getting home to study and do more 3-D printing — a hobby that he turned into a business.

Lama, the Benjamin School’s valedictorian, created Real3Ddesignz two years ago after the Singer Island resident fell in love with the “ability to create something from inside (his) head and watch it come to life.”

Even though Lama has his own business, he said, “I don’t really promote the company.” He sells some products here and there but said he mostly uses his printers to make gifts for his family and create bow ties for himself.

“I never considered myself artistic, but 3-D printing is a way for me to express myself and create,” Lama said.

When Lama is not operating a 3-D printer, one can catch him creating bike generators or other projects with his teammates in the Benjineers, the school engineer club. Lama helped found the club as a freshman and was

part of the team that won the Ten80 National Competition his sophomore year.

“Gathering data was my favorite part of the projects I

worked on,” said the 17-yearold senior.

Lama’s impressive résumé doesn’t end there. He was president of his school’s

National Honor Society, captain of the basketball team and a member of the school’s honor council while maintaining a GPA above 4.0.

“It feels pretty great,” Lama said of being valedictorian. “It’s a prestigious award and shows how much hard work I’ve put into everything.” Lama credits his hard work to helping him land an internship of sorts at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach this year. While his dad is a trauma surgeon at St. Mary’s, Lama said he applied on his own to shadow the trauma team for a week and was selected.

“I learned some basic medical procedures and how to read medical imaging,” said Lama. “I followed the doctors on their rounds and watched them perform surgeries.”

Lama’s goal is to follow in his parent’s footsteps and wants to pursue a career in the medical field.

“My parents are both doctors,” he said. “They have given me a lot of science talks over family dinners.”

Lama plans to go in the fall to Stanford, where he is deciding between majoring in biomedical engineering and biomedical computation, which is a new major that focuses on biology, medicine, statistics and computation. His goal is to be a surgeon, possibly in the trauma field, like his father.

“I really liked Stanford, because it has a unique, diverse group of people,” Lama said.