Boy Scouts from Vicksburg and Schoolcraft went to college to learn about engineering drafting. In two three-hour sessions at WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Parkview Campus, 14 scouts examined engineering drawing from two perspectives, by hand and with computer-aided design (CAD).
Slobodan Urdarevik (left), the lead engineering graphics faculty member at Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, assists David Pauli, 14, a ninth-grader in Vicksburg Troop 251, with AutoCAD drawing.
WMU’s Slobodan Urdarevik, the lead faculty member in the engineering graphics classes in the IME department, provided the instruction with the help of student teaching assistant volunteers. “Working with these scouts has been very exciting,” he said.
As part of the requirements for the drafting badge, the Scouts, who ranged from 11 to 15 years old, completed a third angle orthographic projection showing the front, top, and right side views of an object. “In order to draw any object either by hand or in CAD, we need to know these three views of a part,” Urdarevik said. “These are basic.”
By hand, the scouts learned to transfer measurements from the part to the drawing, to use symbols, and to show dimensions. They took width, depth, and height measurements of the part and determined the location and diameter of a hole in the part. “We learned drafting a design and a block on paper,” said David Pauli, 14, a ninth-grader in Vicksburg’s Troop 251.
One week later, the scouts returned to a WMU computer lab where they drew the same part they’d drawn the week before except that they used AutoCAD, an electronic drafting program. WMU students Jonathan Zolp, a second-year aeronautical engineering student from Paw Paw; David Schmidt, a second-year civil engineering student from Rochester Hills; and Jaime Rodriguez, a mechanical engineering senior from Three Rivers, volunteered to assist the scouts. All three presently serve as undergraduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the engineering graphics course.
Kris Peck (left, front), 12, a seventh-grader from Vicksburg Troop 251, gets AutoCAD assistance from David Schmidt, a second-year civil engineering student from Rochester Hills, while Logan Pauli, 12, also a seventh-grader from Vicksburg Troop 251, attends to his own drawing. In second row (left to right) are Deric Blanchett, 11, a sixth-grader from the same troop, and Jaime Rodriguez, a mechanical engineering senior from Three Rivers, and Cody Sherman, 12, a seventh-grader from the same troop. In the third row on the left is Andy Lovell (left), 13, from Schoolcraft Troop 254. Standing in the back of the room is Slobodan Urdarevik, the lead engineering graphics faculty member at WMU.
Many scout merit badges are introductions to various careers, and Urdarevik reviewed the Boy Scout merit badge book on drafting to be sure that the sessions would enable the scouts to meet all the badge requirements. “In a very short period of time, they learn many things very quickly,” he said.
“Coming here has been great,” Vicksburg Troop 251 leader Mike Gerry said.
This is the first time Urdarevik has offered the drafting sessions for scouts, but he is interested in providing instruction for other scouts to earn the drafting badge.
“I hope there will be more requests because I think learning about drafting is beneficial for the scouts, and it’s also good for them to come here to the college.” Those interested in scheduling sessions should contact him at slobodan.urdarevik@wmich.edu
---Story and photos courtesy of the Kalamazoo Gazette
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