At a recent SEAONC dinner meeting, Derrick Lind was awarded the William Kaplan Volunteer of the Year Award for his dedication and hard work with the Engineers Alliance for the Arts (EAA). Derrick has been volunteering with EAA since 2004 and has been instrumental in making key advancements in the curriculum.
EAA is a program that seeks to merge arts and engineering. Volunteers, many of them engineers, teach high school students about bridges, structural concepts, sustainability, and teamwork. The students are presented with some realistic scenarios where a new bridge is required. They are tasked with designing, building, and presenting a bridge to fit one of the scenarios. The bridges are judged on their structure, their aesthetic appeal, a written essay, and an oral presentation. At the end of the ten-week program, the students compete against other schools. To read more about the program, visit EAA’s website: EAA Website
The award is named for well-respected structural engineer William S. Kaplan, who was a longtime volunteer.
