Houston City College (HCC), NFPA’s Fast Track Hub in Texas, hosted their first Fluid Power Action Challenge (FPAC) Workshop Day on Friday, February 27th, sponsored by Hydraquip, Inc. This event provided 30 local middle school students with the opportunity to visit HCC’s Eastside Campus in Houston, TX and directly connect with area industry members from Hydraquip, Inc.
Working in teams, the students learned about fluid power fundamentals (hydraulics and pneumatics) from Hydraquip's industry professionals, utilized key skills (problem solving, teamwork, time management) and started solving an engineering problem using fluid power. Many thanks to Patrick Strimple and the engineering talents of Hunter Northington and Walker Ridgeway from Hydraquip who assisted students by answering questions, demonstrating safety practices, and talking about the exciting ways in which fluid power can be applied in the real-world! Students took their prototype kits from Workshop Day back to their classroom and will work with their teachers over the next several weeks to improve their design, and test their machine in preparation for the final competition.
The student teams will return to HCC on May 1st to build their final machine and compete on Challenge Day. Volunteers from HCC and Hydraquip will return to help students with their kit build, as well as judging the final competition.
These in-person events are ways to make immediate impact on students to understand the variety of career paths available, gain hands-on experience. Plus, NFPA members can build relationships with local schools and leverage HCC’s career development programs to recruit talent in the Houston area.
To learn more, contact Erin Bauer at ebauer@nfpa.com.