When Kaiya Neuss walked into the mechatronics lab at Kent Phoenix Academy for the first time, she felt at home.

The KPA junior is in her second semester in the mechatronics program, which combines pneumatics, hydraulics, mechanical and electrical engineering.

“I loved it,” Neuss said of the course. “This is the reason I come to school because this class makes me super excited.”

Neuss enjoys working with her hands, as well as art and design.

“I had an interest in how things worked as a kid,” she said. “I used to take things apart and put them back together. This (program) called out to me when my friend said this was an actual place.”

The mechatronics program, which is in its second year at KPA, offers three unique high school programs to Kent School District students who want a learning environment different from a traditional high school. Program manager and founder Patrick Pritchard, who also teaches mechatronics at Green River College, approached the school district about a space to house the college’s equipment a couple a years ago.

“It was during a downturn in the economy when the colleges get real busy,” Pritchard said. “I actually got pushed out. I was the new kid on the block and there was no lab space. … Someone suggested, ‘You know, some of the high schools have empty space, why don’t you check?’ So I reached out to the Kent School District and they said, ‘We’ve been looking for something like this.’ They wanted more career opportunities for student. (They said), ‘We will give it to you for free. We want to talk to you about delivering this to high school students.’”

Up to 24 KPA students use the lab during the day each semester, and students enrolled in Green River’s mechatronics program take over the space in the evenings.

Pritchard received an $891,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to help establish the program.

“The idea is instead of going out and doing separate individual outreach, let’s just establish a pipeline,” he said. “We’ve got students going through this class all the time.”

Students in the program at KPA can receive 10 college credits, as well as high school credit, for completing the course. If they take a second semester of the class, they can earn a certificate of proficiency.

There is high demand for jobs in mechatronics, Pritchard said. As robots and machines take over manufacturing, skilled workers are needed to build, repair and maintain the equipment.

“The industry declined for so many decades,” he said. “We all have the idea that it’s over, but that’s not the case. With robots and advanced automation, suddenly the huge advantage of low-wage workers that some of these other countries have is not so important anymore. Now we need people that are intelligent, creative problem solvers, and it allows the U.S. to compete now.”

There is always a need for internships and field trips for mechatronics students, Pritchard said. Anyone with connections in the industry can call Pritchard at 253-457-0411.

Building 3-D printers, creating prosthetic hands

As a student in the program, Neuss built a 3-D printer using a kit.

“It was honestly quite the experience,” she said. “I learned a lot of the instructions were very vague. It didn’t tell me too much about it so I went through (thinking) this part looks like it fits together. If this were to do this, that would be the effects. I had to think about beforehand the outcome of how it would look, and it worked out fine in the end.”

After assembling the printer, Neuss used it to print pieces to make a movable prosthetic hand for a child who is missing fingers.

The Kent Rotary Club donated money for the materials.

“It is great thing to show not just how the technologies work, but how the technology can help people, how it transforms people’s lives,” Pritchard said. “A lot of children would not get a prosthetic because they outgrow them so fast. They are so expensive, so this, instead of a couple of thousand (dollars), is $50 to produce.”

Pritchard is looking for a child to give the finished prosthetic to.

“If we could find a child in the region, we would be happy to provide that to them,” he said.

Providing mentors

To help students in the mechatronics program succeed, KPA has teamed up with Communities in Schools of Kent (CISK) to provide mentors.

Communities in Schools – a nonprofit whose mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and succeed in life – offers a mentoring program at six schools in Kent, including KPA.

“Here is this great program for students, but it is going to be challenging,” David de la Fuente, executive director of CISK, said of the need for mentors in the mechatronics program. “This takes a little bit more self-motivation than just showing up for class. … Something this technical could be a little bit challenging for the students if they didn’t have that social emotional support to help them understand why they should pursue the technical programs.”

Mentors typically meet with students once a week for up to an hour. Communities in Schools tries to provide a mentor to any mechatronics student who wants one.

“There are some kids that know this is what they want to do with their life, so they are ready to rock and roll,” de la Fuente said. “So maybe they don’t even need a mentor. It is more for the kids that are on the fence. They are thinking about doing this but they really aren’t quite sure. … We do make sure that everybody that is in that boat gets to have a mentor.”

Some mentors meet with two or three students. Communities in Schools hopes to grow its pool of mentors. Potential mentors don’t need a background in mechatronics, de la Fuente said.

“Obviously, we would love to have mentors, and do have some mentors who happen to be knowledgable about the field,” he said. “These are still high-school-age as opposed to college-age. Their career plans are a little less defined, so they need a little more support on the social-emotional level to even pursue that. We have found even for a program this technical in nature, at the end of the day, it’s still the social-emotional piece, the support piece, the how’s-your-life-going piece, that tends to be extremely valuable.”

KPA senior Garrett Ruggles is enrolled in the mechatronics program and has a mentor who meets with him and a couple other students every Tuesday.

“He’s a really cool guy,” Ruggles, who plans to go into a career in welding and engineering, said of his mentor. “They offered him, and I thought, ‘Why not?’ ”

Anyone interests in becoming a mentor, should call Communities in Schools of Kent at 253-867-5637, email de la Fuente at ddelafuente1@ciskent.org or email Dee Klem, mentoring services manager, at dklem@ciskent.org.

“The kids are awesome,” de la Fuente said. “It tends to be at least as rewarding, if not more, for the mentors as it is for the mentees.”

Garrett Ruggles, a senior at Kent Phoenix Academy, works on equipment in the mechatronics lab. HEIDI SANDERS, Kent Reporter