High School Highlight: John Daniels, Jr.

The Best Fit

John, then a rising senior, always had a propensity for math, saying that "numbers just seem to 'click' in my head." Having been interested in Lego's when he was younger, John knew he enjoyed designing and building things but after several college visits and conversations with professors about architecture, he realized "it just wasn't the perfect field for me." His interest in math and science, especially physics, made him wonder if engineering would be the better fit. It wasn't until his participation in the UNITE program at the University of Delaware that these suspicions were confirmed. "I look English, Calculus, Physics, and Engineering," John says, "all were high school senior level classes but at a college pace. The engineering class was a huge help for me; it helped me confirm that I want to have a career in engineering."

Not Just a Numbers Game

In addition to the engineering class, John says his favorite part of the program was "having the opportunity to gain the experience of living and socializing on campus with other students. Living in a college dorm with a roommate was a lot of fun. The academic part was intense and difficult in the beginning but after the first week I got used to it." While UNITE demands a rigorous academic schedule, the foundation of many of the classes are hands-on activities and field trips, allowing the students to see the practical application of what they are learning, a critical element not present in many high school courses. One of these activities was the Bionic Hand Kit, a package of materials that once constructed properly, created a robotic hand that powered on and off and had the ability to perform the functions of a normal human hand.

Bringing it Back to School

John remembered his summer experience and that Bionic Hand during the school year when his school, Neptune High School, participated in the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge. As a member of the Neptune High School team and tasked with designing a robotic device capable of picking up a LEGO person and then maneuvering through an obstacle course, John put his skills and knowledge to use. His team created a two-axel robotic car with an arm attached to the top, a concept, John says, that came from the Bionic Hand he had built the summer before. While John's Neptune team didn't advance to the final round of the challenge, John says both the Panasonic Challenge and the UNITE program have taught him that "being an engineer takes some patience as well as determination. If one solution doesn't work, you must learn from your mistakes and use them to make the next possible solution that much better."

A Bright Future

John says he is confident next year's Neptune team will do even better in the Panasonic Creative Design Challenge, though for John, there are bigger things on the horizon. "My biggest plan for the future is to attend college," he says. "I will be going to Syracuse University this coming fall to major in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Mathematics." Even some two-hundred and fifty miles away in upstate New York next year, John will have with him the experiences from his four years at Neptune High School and his summer spent at the University of Delaware, experiences not too many students share.

"Missing from the curriculum of the typical high school is the opportunity to build, design, create, and manipulate objects that help to lift the theories and concepts off the pages of the textbooks; thus making the curriculum come alive," says Richard A. Allen, Principal at Neptune High School. "The Panasonic Challenge and the JETS experiences have given the Neptune High School students the opportunity to transform theories into authentic, real-life problem solving scenarios," Mr. Allen adds "John Daniels has taken advantage of these experiences and has truly benefited from the challenges set before him."