A plan for the zoo train designed by students at Golda Meir Middle School. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
John Hoover, Natalie Hughes, Mateen Awan, Charlie Klimpel from Brookfield East High School and Elmbrook LAUNCH created visually appealing models to accompany their presentation. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Pete Reynolds, co-founder of Learn Deep Milwaukee and graduate of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UWM, welcomes the crowd before presentations begin. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Ten Milwaukee area schools and over 120 students presented in UWM's Lapham Hall. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
New Berlin Eisenhower High School students present their designs to improve the sifting and storing of coal. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Students from Golda Meir Middle School listen to presentations and write critiques for their fellow students. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
High school students from St. Joan Antida present their plans for the Milwaukee County Zoo train. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Panelists from UWM's engineering program, We Energies, Milwaukee County Zoo and Learn Deep Milwaukee give written and oral feedback of the students' solutions. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
New Berlin Eisenhower students pose for a group shot with Christine Beimborn, UWM’s STEM outreach specialist and a coordinator for the event; co-founders of Learn Deep Milwaukee Joost Allard and Pete Reynolds; and Madiha Saeed Ahmed from UWM’s College of Engineering. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Ten Milwaukee-area schools are putting their heads together to improve the Milwaukee County Zoo’s trains.
As part of the Zoo Train Challenge, an ongoing project to make the zoo’s passenger trains more efficient, over 120 students filled Lapham Hall’s east atrium on Friday, Dec. 13, to present their ideas on how to improve the coal-handling process. In the audience to give feedback were UWM engineering students, Milwaukee County Zoo officials and Learn Deep Milwaukee, an organization that connects teachers around Milwaukee with community partners to give students practical experiences.
The zoo will settle on a design, or elements from several designs, when the schools reconvene to present their final models in the spring.
