UWP students manufacture bookshelves for St. Mary's schools
PLATTEVILLE - When St. Mary's elementary school in Platteville got a gift in mid-December, they thanked not Santa Claus but a group of six students from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Graduate students in Colleen Kaiser's manufacturing course spent the semester designing and creating a prototype bookshelf. The team built two of the designed bookshelves, and donated them to St. Mary's schools Dec. 14. "I just really wanted students to be involved in a project where they look at all the steps in the manufacturing process, and I thought the best way to have them do that would be to actually manufacture a product," Kaiser said. The group consisted of Adam Smith, Beaver Dam; Hue Vang, Milwaukee; Dale Linder, Prarie du Chein; John Holt, Platteville; Ryan Kennedy, Stephenville, Texas; and Sumate Auswasilawasukul, Thailand. The UWP students met with Tina Roth, librarian at St. Mary's, to discuss what the school could use. When the team decided on a bookshelf for students K-3, they gathered input and took measurements in order to design a better product.
"They asked me what I needed and took a real hands-on approach," Roth said. When young children at the school used the normal bookshelves in the past, pulling one book out would often make many more tumble out, Roth said. The new bookshelves incorporate a bin designed for the large-scale books that are easier for young children to read.
"We were looking for something that was user friendly for that age-group," Kaiser said.
The UWP students made drawings of their prototype bookshelf, and converted the data to be used in a computer software program. They utilized the university's ShopBot robotic wood cutter to manufacture the product. "To get them involved in doing something application-oriented, that was one of my goals," Kaiser said.
Through the UWP Community University Partnership program, students from a number of majors and departments have gained valuable experience working on a variety of projects to help area communities. Among those activities, UW-Platteville students have contributed to the renovation of Taliesin, the former estate of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Spring Green; coordinated a welcome home celebration for Platteville's 229th engineering national guard unit; and most recently assisted the town of Potosi with designs for improvements to make way for the new National Brewery Museum. Individuals, schools or organizations that have ideas for additional partnership projects may contact CUP coordinator Sue Curtis by phone, 608-342-1308, or via e-mail, curtissu@uwplatt.edu.
Contact: Colleen Kaiser, UWP Department of Industrial Studies, 608-342-1159, kaiserc@uwplatt.edu
Prepared by: Dan Lehnherr, UWP Public Relations, 608-342-1194, lehnherd@uwplatt.edu
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