A group of four MSU students spent the semester with 26 fifth-graders at Woodcreek Elementary School in Lansing to design a solar power worm compost bin.

For five years, Woodcreek used worms to turn their cafeteria food into compost instead of sending the trash to a landfill.

“During the winter months, the worms would go dormant and some would actually freeze, die off and the compost process would stop,” said Craig Somerton, an associate professor in mechanical engineering and instructor of the course.

The team created a system using solar power to keep the worms alive and keep the compost process working.

Diane Graham, the engineering teacher for the elementary school, said that a fifth-grade class came up with the idea to use solar power to keep the worms from dying two years ago.

The MSU students walked the students through a step-by-step design process and gave them first-hand experience of what an engineer does, Graham said.

“Even to see that two of the four people in the group were women was very good for girls and boys in the class because it showed that girls are engineers also,” she said.

Caitlen Douthitt said she had no idea what the engineering profession entailed or meant until she came to MSU and began taking course in mechanical engineering.

“(This project) gave them an opportunity to learn what engineering was and gave them the motivation that they can do whatever they put their minds to,” said Douthitt, a mechanical engineering senior and member of the design group. “We showed them a different profession than what they are usually around.”

Somerton said many of the students at Woodcreek will be the first generation in their family to attend college and could be some of the first in their community to pursue engineering.

Each of the MSU students were from the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s capstone course, which all seniors in the major have to take before they graduate. The group taught lessons and spent 10 hours a week on the design and building, Douthitt said.

The program will continue for three years, Somerton said. Next semester, another group will work with fifth-graders from Woodcreek to design a demonstration system of global warming.

“The grant has given possibility to have a program with both outstanding engineering aspects and outstanding outreach aspects,” Somerton said.