ExxonMobil representatives were on hand yesterday, May 4, at Scotlandville Magnet High School for a hands-on engineering activity teaching students about buoyancy.  The event was part of a several daily projects planned during Engineering Week, which began Monday, May 2.

For instance, 10th-grade students (pictured, sitting left to right) Lakedra Bowman, Ka'Shay Winston, Monquel Handy, Raquan Handy and Johnathan Perry worked with Jeremy Burnham (standing) of ExxonMobil to design an airplane and learned about buoyancy as a fun way to understand the difference between product and process design. The students took candy and office supplies and made a prototype airplane (product design) and then figured out a way to mass produce the airplanes (process design).  Calamities and upsets helped students understand that their process must be robust enough to handle a variety of changes if they occur.