Tech students at Normal Community High School are working with mentors from State Farm Insurance to address some of the most pressing problems this time of year: When's Santa coming? How can we celebrate? How does one catch a flying reindeer? One group of students in Donald Whitman's class are working on a Santa Catcher, another is trying to figure out how to get a holiday party off to a bang with balloons and confetti. NCHS Senior Henry Wong outlines his teams effort.
State Farm mentor Jackie Whitten says she and fellow mentors help show how skills in class can be applied.
Whitten points out she does not use balloons loaded with confetti at State Farm. Still other projects include one to determine if there's too much carbon monoxide in the chimney for Santa to make a safe entrance, and one that will make it easier to take embarrassing family photos for the holidays. All projects must use a tiny "Raspberry" computer, which creates some limits making students think more.