Over the 2025 summer term, the Industrial Sustainability Lab (ISL) partnered with the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Oregon State University (OSU) to introduce high school students to engineering through a Lego-based lab activity. CAMP is a program dedicated to providing students from migrant and seasonal worker backgrounds with positive educational experiences and other support services, including campus visits. The ISL group hosted about 50 high schoolers and taught lean methodologies through a fun and interactive Lego assembly line.

In this lab, students work together in a factory-like setting to assemble Lego airplanes. During the first run, they build freely, without instruction from the lab facilitators. In the second, they apply lean manufacturing principles, usually producing more airplanes that pass inspection during the second run. The goal is simple yet powerful: to introduce engineering in a fun way while sparking curiosity about pursuing engineering fields.

The lab activity was led by doctoral student David Okenwa and master’s student Gabrielle Paul and supported by other members of the ISL including PI, Dr Karl Haapala, and doctoral students, Dolor Enarevba, Idowu Dare and Kazhal Ghabiri. Partnering with OSU educational programs gives students a peek into the engineering world and provides ISL members with extra-curricular opportunities to pass on lived experience to the next generation of learners. At the ISL, we routinely run this workshop as part of our outreach efforts.