Community Involvement

Prairiefire's team members have benefited greatly from the local community, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and give back by augmenting the local curricula.

College Level

At the college level, drafting and CAD courses often focus only on the ability to click the right buttons in a specific software tool. Design based on form-fit-function, dimensioning to indicate design intent, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing are only lightly covered. We introduce these topics in a guest lecture in an existing class or in a supplemental elective course. We help students see a more encompassing process of design engineering.

High School Level

High school is a critical time for students to find and develop topical interests before choosing a college major. We help students make informed decisions about their futures through after-school programs like Science Olympiad. We show them that engineering is a fun, creative way to understand the world using math, chemistry, and physics.

Everywhere

You will also find our staff at many of the extracurricular activities about town, helping teams and performing judging activities for 4H and Lego completions. We are there to challenge the best to get better and for those that are ready, give them an idea as to what the possibilities are. Engineers are everywhere incognito, we aim to let the youth know we are right there next to them, with them.