Experience seems to be a key ingredient to the success of winners of the 2009 Spring AutoCAD competition. They were honored at a ceremony in early December.
Slobodan Urdarevik, the lead lecturer for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, presented the awards before a Fall 2009 IME 1420 lecture class. The audience included students eligible to compete in the 2009 Fall AutoCAD Contest. “The 2009 Spring competition was very close,” he said. “They all did a very good job.”
Russell Parsons,a sophomore in civil engineering, won first-place. The Rochester Hills, MI, native graduated from Adams High School, where he took two years of high-school, computer-aided design (CAD) classes. He has been busy with coursework.
The second-place winner is Brandon Weeda, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, lives in Kalamazoo but graduated from Plymouth Christian High School in Grand Rapids. His background in graphics includes a semester in an architectural program called SoftPlan 13. He is presently a teaching assistant (TA) in IME 1420. His future plans are open but include an internship.
Third place winner Blair Ward, a sophomore majoring in engineering graphics and design technology (EGR), is from Kalamazoo. The Paw Paw High School graduate had two years experience in AutoCAD and drawing before coming to WMU.
In addition to classes, Ward is also an IME 1420 TA, and he works at Pizza Hut in Paw Paw. He recently joined Engineers Without Borders, which is planning a summer project in Honduras. His future plans include finding an internship before he graduates and eventually finding a job “someplace warm like Georgia.”
Slobodan Urdarevik (right), lead faculty for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, with
(L to R) Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair, and Spring AutoCAD winners Blair Ward (3rd), Brandon Weeda (2nd), and Russell Parsons (1st); Parson’s winning drawing is shown
All three winners received Best Buy gift cards and engraved plaques, which were donated by Dr. Hooks, Inc., a Kalamazoo-based business.
Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME department chair, congratulated the winners. “These students have demonstrated their ability to bring together what they have learned in the classroom and demonstrated their ability to use it.” He encouraged the audience to participate in this semester’s competition. “You all have the same opportunity next week.”
The competition is held at the end of each semester for the more than 300 students enrolled in IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, where students complete about 50 CAD-related assignments.
For the competition, students create a two-dimensional AutoCAD drawing and a 3D-solid model of a complicated part. They must show all dimensions and all symbols needed for manufacturing. For more information about the competition or about CAD drafting at WMU, Email slobodan.urdarevik@wmich.edu
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