Students tour laboratories, learn about plastics, metals

Nearly 50 students from Career Academy South Bend visited Trine University on Tuesday.

Jason Blume, executive director of Innovation One, led students and three teachers on a tour of Innovation One, housed in the Jim and Joan Bock Center for Innovation and Biomedical Engineering. The visitors started in the plastics laboratory where they learned about different ways to mold plastics and saw molding machines turn a sheet of plastic and plastic pellets into products.

Students also visited the cast metals, rapid prototyping and motion analysis laboratories in addition to seeing a machine that tests the strength of materials. After lunch, the students enjoyed a tour of the campus and a chance to learn about different areas of study at Trine.

Accompanying the students were teachers Theresa Godette, Dustin Lehman and Trine alum Nick Garstka. Lindsay Omlor, director of Education One, Trine's charter school authorizer, also participated in the tour. Education One authorized the charter for Career Academy.

The group has other connections to Trine, too, as Godette's father, Rick Coffman, is an alumnus and Garstka and Blume are brothers of Delta Chi fraternity.