Engineering: Not all just duct-tape and WD-40
Carolina Ragola, Future City South Florida Alumni, was in 8th grade when she joined Future City, after seeing her friend’s brother compete in the program. It was during this time that she learned, “engineering can be beautiful, it’s not all just duct-tape and WD-40.”
Carolina and her teammates won their regional competition in 2004-2005, responding to the theme, “How can futuristic transportation systems efficiently use aggregate materials as a basic construction product?” They went on to compete at National Finals where they came in second place. “After our success at finals, we came home and had the opportunity to present our Future City idea to community leaders, and even our congresswoman. It was really exciting!”
Carolina says her team succeeded because they had first-hand experience with their topic. “My advice to students would be to take field trips and learn by doing in the real world. Being hands on gives you a deeper understanding and will spark new ideas.”
In high school, Carolina enrolled in her school’s engineering program. After graduation, she went to Harvard where she graduated with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. She now is a Project Manager at Kespry, a commercial drone company. “Future City was my first interaction with engineering. It impacted me greatly then and continues to today,” said Carolina.
