3D printing at YC

3D+printer+in+Zarfas+room

3D printer in Zarfas’ room

Gabrielle Chambers, Editor-in-Chief

 

Technology is constantly evolving, even in our small town. YC has shown devotion to a certain type, in particular, 3D Printing. YC’s new math teacher, Robert Zarfas, and YC’s manufacturing teacher, Trevor DaSilva, have been taking charge of the 3D Printers at our school.

 

YC’s go to manufacturing teacher is daSilva. He uses the printers in Design and Production, Advanced manufacturing, and essentially all of his classes. The use of the printers is a critical pillar towards his teaching style. He has a total of 20 printers in use for his courses.

 

These printers are useful outside of the classroom as well. In the past, daSilva has created coasters for wineries with our school’s laser cutter and then created coaster holders with the 3D printer.

 

Zarfas, our newer computer science teacher,  mainly uses his printers for his innovations class. His collection of printers isn’t as massive as daSilva’s and he jokes that daSilva is the one with the monopoly on them. Currently, he is attempting to get more printers for his classes.

 

Something both Zarfas and daSilva strongly agree on is the importance of 3D printing. “It’s the future of manufacturing”, daSilva said.

Drew Hinton, a junior at YC, is currently taking Design and Production. “It’s really fun printing off items that actually work, that’s probably my favorite part.” Hinton went into depth on how 3D printing makes it easy to create items you don’t have at the moment. For example, if you don’t have a screw, you can easily print one off that works perfectly.

 

The style for showing what you learned in Design and Production is different, yet fitting for the course. “[daSilva’s] curriculum doesn’t have tests or worksheets. Instead, he has us do projects to show that we’re proficient”, says Hinton.