Early Designing

As a young boy, I fell in love with tinkering. Little toys and building blocks were a favorite in my house, and I could rarely be kept from drawing out a plan and building structures across the living room. Meanwhile, I found another love: theme parks. I quickly became enthralled with the capability of a theme park to transport a guest from everyday life to an immersive, worry free land of joy and discovery. Soon enough, these two passions melded together, and I began to reconstruct Disneyland on my living room floor regularly.

As I grew a bit older and got into more serious classes, I got more serious about my concepts. I began intensive project work, hand sketching concept art, ride layouts, and even full park layouts. I shared these ideas in different ways, through family, with friends, and even in several online competitions which I actually won at a still young age. Several of these designs can be found below. I was invested in themed design engineering, applying my growing problem-solving inclinations to build more ambitious and exciting mechanical ideas than I had previously considered. In the end, it was these formative years which solidified my desire to become an engineer at Penn State, and to learn the remaining technical project skills required to enter industry and make a difference in people's lives.