University Prep students love clubs. Affinity clubs are prominently featured during culture nights. Tailgate club serves food off of a foldable table prior to sports games. Service club hosts pie bakes. Every week, Schoology is populated by posts from various clubs. However, one club works from the MakerSpace in relative silence. Engineering club was formed last year by then-junior Will Cast. For Cast, the engineering club was a way to further his relationship with mechanical engineering. 

“I’ve been on the robotics team for a long time, since I was in sixth grade,” Cast said. “I saw the opportunity to kind of focus on some more projects.”

Cast not only enjoys the building aspect, but also the communication and leadership that comes with it. 

“I just love building stuff and like designing projects and working with other people, teaching them how to use things,” Cast said. 

In only its second year, Engineering club has 64 registered members, making it one of the largest clubs in UPrep history. They meet roughly every week, and already have something to show for the effort they have put in.

“We just finished building this awesome RC car from scratch,” Cast said. “Now we’re looking at working on a new project, kind of talking with our members figuring out what people want to build.”

However, Engineering club is not without challenges; attendance has become an issue, and an unexpected absence can through off the team’s chain of communication. 

“We have people come in and out,” Cast said. “We’re working on projects, like the RC car, and sometimes it’s difficult to get people up to date on what’s been done and what needs to be done.”