HMA wins challenge again
For the third consecutive year, a team of students from Harmony Magnet Academy’s Academy of Engineering Pathway took first place in the Internnect Design Competition on Friday. The team competed against schools from around Tulare County and won a check for $2,500 for their firstplace finish.
“I’m really proud of them. They did a tremendous job,” said HMA teacher and coach Erik Santos. “Every year I’m amazed. In my mind I have ideas, and their end product is always way beyond what I would have come up with.”
The purpose of the internship experience is to provide career experiences across the Tulare and Kings County region that will help students learn and prosper together.
In the effort to redefine the traditional internship, the competition aims to create an environment where several schools work in interdisciplinary teams while being mentored by industry professionals through virtual communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
A different theme is created each year for the competition, and teams go through a sixmonth design process before the final projects are judged.
For this year’s project, Internnect worked with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to design an educational facility master plan in Porterville.
The federal agency owns a nature trail and approximately 40 acres below Success Lake Dam they want to develop into an educational facility for schools and communities throughout the Central Valley.
Harmony’s winning design concept featured a remodel of the old Rustler’s steakhouse building below the dam into a two-story, multiuse educational facility, designs for a new twostory facility for park ranger offices, and an expansion of the Sycamore Trail to incorporate other areas of the Corps of Engineers land below the dam.
Santos said that unlike projects from past years, this year his team could actually interact with staff from USACE and ask them question about their preferences.
Visitors will learn about the purpose of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well the global environment which promotes sustainability and natural resources through outdoor learning spaces.
Mangini Associates Inc. designed the internship experience in partnership with Tulare County Office of Education and Porterville Unified School District in 2010. After several years it has grown with excitement, bringing together a region of several school districts, industry partners, and intermediaries.