Students from Engineering Design and Development went to Union Station to compete at the Project Lead the Way and Engineering Design and Development Senior Showcase on Tuesday, April 18.

In groups of three, the seniors who placed in the top 10 are: Connor Davis, Kyle Kappes-Sum and Taylor Barth; Nathan Gawith, Jordan Fuller and Brayden Arnold, Jacob Tiehen and Brady Timmons; and Eric Tibbetts, Hanavan Kuhn and Matt Dennis.

Although she had confidence in the projects, Kebodeaux was surprised with the results.

“By the time the event came in April I had seen the projects, seen the kids working for 7 to 8 months, and at least 3 to 4 of the projects I really thought they would do well,” Kebodeaux said. “I was shocked that we had 4 in the top ten because there were 190 teams there.”

Tibbetts, Kuhn and Dennis worked as a team to design a new way to deice aircraft. They placed third, losing by just .75 points.

According to Kuhn, working on the project will prepare students for the future.

“Since this is emulating a real life scenario where an engineer would actually go through a similar process to come up with a solution,” Kuhn said. “It’s kind of like a first practice at being an engineer; coming up with a problem coming up with a solution, especially since you have a limited amount of time.”

Tibbetts believes the longevity of the project made students more devoted.

“I feel like it makes us more invested, because it’s something that is applicable to our lives,” Tibbetts said. “When we chose the project we knew we we’re going to work on this the entire year … knowing that we could be more invested this could actually happen this could be real life.”

Kebodeaux has confidence in the program moving forward.

“Hopefully we’ll just build from [here],” Kebodeaux said. “I had this years class right next years class letters so that the lessons learned will be passed down not just from me but from them.”

The teams will be receiving a plaque for their accomplishments on Tuesday, May 2.