My parents are both designers, so I had a foggy idea what industrial design was about, but the Pre-College faculty truly opened the doors for me to new possibilities. I met some great people who I still hang out with, and three people in my Pre-College class enrolled in CCA’s Industrial Design Program later on.

We did four big projects in two weeks. My first all-nighter ever. We did the egg-drop project—a classic—but the twist was that a brick and an egg had to be dropped in the same package from two stories and neither could be damaged.

Next was a cardboard chair with no glue or materials besides cardboard. Really fun.

After that we had to design and build a functional solar oven. I got mine to 350 degrees, and then baked some cookies.

The last project was to design a shoe that was either 100 percent recyclable or 100 percent nonrecyclable. I think I was the only one in the class who did 100 percent recyclable—priorities have changed since then.

Pre-College gave me an inspiring glance into what a design education would be like and connected me personally to real people at the college who were also great teachers. It was good that [the Pre-College Program] pushed students hard, as it motivated those of us who were really serious and made us aware of the challenges ahead.

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