Fostering Education and Skill Development in Science and Engineering
Nurturing education and skill development is a fundamental and vital endeavor aimed at empowering individuals and communities to reach their full potential. Paul Jr. founded the Science and Engineering Team (SET) club during 10th grade and successfully expanded it to over 100 members by the time he reached 12th grade. The club’s primary mission was to establish an inclusive environment where members could actively engage in hands-on scientific and engineering activities in a fun and collaborative manner.
Paul Jr. was adjusting a quadcopter during a demonstration for his science and engineering club.
Sample SET Projects
Our priority is to design STEM modules with hands-on activities similar to some of the SET projects.
We aim to make these modules accessible.
Media Coverage
By James Sun | November 25, 2014
For many, music is sound; however, for the Science and Engineering Team (SET), it’s much more than that—it’s sound waves. These sound waves cause the flames on top of the Rubens’ tube to dance in height, creating a spectacular show in a dark classroom.
For the past few months, SET worked on building a Rubens’ tube, a physics apparatus in which flames shoot out of holes drilled into a tube. Two weeks ago, the team successfully completed and tested the tube during a Wednesday lunch period.
Not only did the science department fund the project, but it also plans to use the tube as a practical demonstration to teach students about sound wave.
“We’ll cover a lot of ground and hopefully have a really cool end product that everyone can enjoy and feel proud of,” Paul said. “What this club is at the moment is really a testimony that building things can be a community hobby that inspires us to create.”
Jessica King, The Talon
The Science and Engineering Team (SET) is planning an upcoming venture that just may top their list of “most dangerous projects.” By mixing kitty litter and sugar, along with other ingredients, in a hollow cylinder and lighting it aflame, the SET should be able to create a rocket that can launch up to 2,000 feet high. As SET president senior Paul Dennig put it, the result should be “pretty sick.”
The goal of SET is to make science and engineering as approachable as possible. By focusing on projects with the goal being to have fun, the club hopes to lower members’ stress and pressure from competition. The SET offers a more flexible option for students to pursue projects and ideas that are not present in existing science courses and intends to create an environment away from the classroom that can appeal to everybody’s scientific curiosity.
Ryann Vargas of NBC Bay Area
If you walk into Mr. Randall’s science classroom on a Wednesday during lunch, you may find students of the Science and Engineering Team shooting marshmallows from a pipe gun they engineered. Or, the team may be watching flames burst from a massive fire tub they created using pressure and propane.
The team experiments with science projects that are fun and relaxing, an intentional departure from the academic pressure they feel during the day.
“Silicon Valley, it’s like the kids here are here to succeed for sure. People all around the world know that Silicon Valley is sort of the breeding ground for the best engineers, the best scientists in the world and my friends know they will be those engineers,” said Paul Dennig, senior at Los Altos High school. “Having that sort of constant weight of, ‘Oh, I really have to succeed sometimes,’ that can really wear you down.”