TEAMWORK BUILDING SOARS.Byline: Eugene Tong tong 1 tr.v. tonged, tong·ing, tongs To seize, hold, or manipulate with tongs. [Back-formation from tongs. Staff Writer VALENCIA - McKena Richardson, a College of the Canyons College of the Canyons is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. According to the National Junior College Research Association, College of the Canyons consistently ranks in the top 50 community colleges in the nation. student envisioning a mechanical engineering career, prefers rappelling from a four-story building to assembling a minirobot in a lab. Both experiences were part of a Saturday leadership retreat hosted by the college's Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement - MESA - program attended by Richardson and 19 other students. ``Building the robot (was more difficult),'' said Richardson of Newhall. ``Rappelling is pretty easy as long as you listened to the directions.'' Rather than sleeping late Saturday, students united by their interest in math and sciences spent part of their weekend fiddling with tweezers tweezers An instrument with pincers used to grasp or extract. See Optical tweezers. , screwdrivers and electric equipment. They were eager to put what they've learned in class to work in exercises such as separating the dyes in Kool Aid with electricity and constructing robots with sound and infrared sensors. ``OK, this doesn't look right,'' said Richardson, 20, struggling with an axle axle Pin or shaft on or with which wheels revolve; with fixed wheels, one of the basic simple machines for amplifying force. Combined with the wheel, in its earliest form it was probably used for raising weights or water buckets from wells. for her minirover. ``I wanted to really know what I was good at, and what I need to work on in engineering. I like to look at the way things work.'' The second annual workshops also cover diversity training and teamwork. That's where rappelling from the fourth floor of a campus building comes in, said Susan Crowther, MESA's director. ``Today is all about helping students develop leadership skills and communication skills and teamwork,'' she said. ``Stepping up to a leadership situation is scary scar·y adj. scar·i·er, scar·i·est 1. Causing fright or alarm. 2. Easily scared; very timid. scar . If you overcome your fear and try something new, good things happen.'' Richardson conquered the robot with a little guidance, then held on for dear life during the rappelling exercise. ``I was just thinking, no matter what happens, don't let go of the rope,'' she said. ``You also got to trust the person holding your rope. They're holding your life in their hands Your Life in Their Hands is a long-running BBC TV documentary series on the subject of surgery, examining surgical practice from the point of view of both surgeons and patients. Its first run lasted from 1958 to 1964 and was presented by Dr. Charles Fletcher. .'' Adil Qureshi, 21, of Reseda, took time off from selling appliances at Sears to watch liquid chromatography chromatography (krō'mətŏg`rəfē), resolution of a chemical mixture into its component compounds by passing it through a system that retards each compound to a varying degree; a system capable of accomplishing this is called a - the art of separating a liquid into its components, often used in forensics See computer forensics. . ``I can get paid with this, too,'' he said. ``I get to meet people in the same major and see where they're going.'' Andrew Perez, 21, of Canyon Country, wants to become a land surveyor. But he needs to finish his robot first. ``I get hands-on experience and I gain confidence,'' he said. ``Well, I'm trying to gain some confidence.'' Eugene Tong, (661) 257-5253 eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: McKena Richardson, 20, is all smiles as she rappels off a 50-foot building at a MESA field day at College of the Canyons Saturday. Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News |
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