U.S. Synthetic, located in Orem, is a company that creates diamond drill bits. However, the business had a different agenda on its plate recently when they traveled to Price to visit Creekview Elementary School and teach a few things to the students.
Landen Garner, Director of Engineering at U.S. Synthetic, stated that the company loves to collaborate with youth and their mission is to build the world’s best problem solvers; not just in the company, but all around. He continued to explain that this is a great opportunity to leverage into the community and connect with education.
Representatives from the company visited a number of classrooms and use a variation of challenges and projects to teach the student tools for problem solving. In one particular classroom, Garner and another representative spent time with the students. Garner referenced the movie “The Sandlot,” telling students that the boys in the movie used a number of tactics to attempt to retrieve their baseball from an angry old dog.
With this in mind, he informed the Chiefs that there is generally not just one way to accomplish something. The students were then presented with challenges, such as taking paper and constructing a tower that would withstand the weight of a deck of cards.
Garner then informed students that the tallest tower he had witnessed with 54 inches high, using all of the cards in one deck.
“The neat thing is, there’s no right way to build it,” Garner told the students.
At the end of the presentation and challenges with the students, they were rewarded for their hard work when U.S. Synthetic passed out a sweet treat to end the event.
