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Palmer Trinity School graduate Christopher Oeltjen recently won the Silver Knight for Science.
For his Silver Knight project, he initiated the construction of a Blue Light System at Palmer Trinity.
“It’s a way to call the police on a college campus,” he says. “Why not implement it into a high school campus? I think we are going to be putting up three in the fall. It’s sad to think about, but school shootings are an issue for the U.S. I wanted to foster an environment where kids are focused on school instead of staying safe.”
He came up with the concept after touring several colleges one of the main selling points was the club light systems on campus. He thought that system could also benefit his high school.
Oeltjen was one of the founders and current president of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Environment and Math (STEEEM) Club at school and brought up the concept.
“Our school gave us funding,” he says. “We asked our CFO for a budget. We tried to engineer it ourselves, but we found out we didn’t have enough money. “We found a metal sponsor. We are getting the metal straight from them,”
He says the student who was able to reach out and get a metal sponsor is taking over the club next year.
“He tells me he will be implementing it in the fall,” he says.
Next fall, Oeltjen will be at the University of Florida with a Computer Engineering major. He took an Advanced Placement Computer Science Class which sparked his interest.
He also took the Social Entrepreneurship class his junior year.
“The goal was to launch a business and sell,” he says. “We sold shoelaces at our school.
“They were bandana type shoelaces. They came in a bunch of designs. It was a great experience.”
For him, one of the best parts of the class is that he learned how to talk to people, which he found useful as leader of the STEEEM Club.
The club also worked on one more project – building mini wind turbines that could be used to charge computers.
“We were able to build a working prototype, and make the design more visually appealing,” he says.
The plan was to create charging stations with a wind turbine, and a cubby for the computer or the phone.
His extra curriculars at school included Model United Nations. He had been a member since he was in ninth grade.
“We went to the Hague for the largest Model UN conference in the world,” he says.
Oeltjen also devoted time to the Solar Car Club, where the members engineered a solar car that they hope to take to Tampa, and Texas if they do well in Tampa.
“That will be ready next year,” he says. “Building a car is very expensive. Designing it to be as fast as it can and efficient as it can. It runs on solar power. The battery needs to be recharged so it can run.”
In college, he hopes to join a Model UN club and a Solar Car Club. He also wants to join a chamber group.
“Music is a big part of my life and I’d like to de-stress so that is something I will be doing in college,” he says.
He was vice president of Mu Alpha Theta and coordinated participation in math competitions. He was a member of the National Honor Society and the Chinese Honor Society as well as Tri-M and the Science National Honor Society.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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