Fallbrook High students win multiple awards at fair

The students of Fallbrook High School wood shop and metal shop teacher Jacob Bagnell entered 26 projects in the San Diego County Fair's Student Showcase. First-place ribbons were awarded to 24 of those projects with the other two projects garnering second-place status.

Although the places are based on scores rather than head-to-head competition, all first-place projects were eligible for Best of Class and the winners of those were considered for Best in Show. Five of the projects submitted by Bagnell's students received Best of Class recognition, and three of those were given Best In Show.

"We did really good this year," Bagnell said. "We had some really neat projects go to the county fair this year."

The 2015-16 school year was Bagnell's third at Fallbrook High School and the second in which his students submitted projects to the fair's Student Showcase. The 26 projects were an increase from the 12 entered in the 2015 San Diego County Fair. "It's growing a lot," Bagnell said. "The kids are really starting to see value in exhibiting their work."

The Student Showcase had more than 10,000 entries in all categories. Most of Bagnell's projects were entered under General Technology. "They told us that we had more projects than any other school besides Palomar Junior College," he said. "Out of all the high schools we submitted more projects than any other school."

One of the projects was actually entered under the Fine Art category; the spinning top of Luke Gillcrist best fit the Recycled Art 80 Percent Recycled Materials 3D criteria. Gillcrist, who was a sophomore during 2015-16, won Best of Class for first-year students in grades 10 through 12. "He ended up winning an art category," Bagnell said.

Bagnell noted that his new students often experiment with different tools before determining a favorite. "One thing he really took to was the lathe, the metal lathe," Bagnell said of Gillcrist.

The center of the spinning top is aluminum and the outside is brass. Gillcrist's initial top spun for two minutes. "He made a lot of revisions," Bagnell said. "He was very persistent."

The spinning time increased with Gillcrist's subsequent iterations, and eventually the top spun for eight minutes. "It really shows his character. He has a lot of grit," Bagnell said.

"In the real world you don't just rush through that stuff," Bagnell said. "In industry, you complete it."

Four of the Fallbrook projects which received Best of Class were created by first-year students. The second-year student, David Armet, initially took Best in Class for second, third, and fourth year students before the sophomore received Best of Show for Energy/Power Sources. Armet powered a go-kart with a hydrogen fuel cell. "His project was awesome," Bagnell said.

"I feel it was the highlight of the fair," Bagnell said. "Kids just don't get stuff running on hydrogen."

One of Fallbrook High School's teachers donated a go-kart to the school. "We really didn't know what we were going to do with it," Bagnell said.

Bagnell entrusted Armet with the go-kart. "He started fabricating it up and changing the geometry on it," Bagnell said.

"He wanted to try running it on hydrogen," Bagnell said. "He actually was able to get this go-kart to run on water."

Water in a storage container is given an electrical charge upon ignition which separates the hydrogen and the oxygen in the water, and the hydrogen is moved through the fuel cell. "Some of the oxygen will go in," Bagnell said. "Next year he wants to get it to be more efficient."

Some gasoline is used to lubricate the engine. "You start it and end it on gasoline, but everything in between is hydrogen," Bagnell said.

In addition to the mechanical and engineering tasks, Armet also sent electronic mail requests to several school administrators requesting assistance. "They just pulled through and got us all the materials we needed," Bagnell said.

The supporting administrative staff members were principal Larry Boone, Fallbrook Union High School District superintendent Hugo Pedroza, assistant superintendent for educational services Jose Iniguez, Fallbrook High School secretary Kelly McGee, and career technical education coordinator Jamie Krok. "All these people came together in a way that I haven't really seen before," said Bagnell. "They saw value in it. They saw value in him."

Bagnell's third year at Fallbrook High School was his seventh overall as a teacher. "It's awesome to be in a community that is interested in this kind of stuff," he said.

"It's good to see that we're being supported," Bagnell said. "It's a great school. I love it there."

Bagnell began his teaching career in Northern California as a biology teacher and taught at High Tech High in San Marcos before Fallbrook High School reinstated wood shop and metal shop and Bagnell successfully applied for the position. He noted that the students in his industrial arts classes use math and science as well as writing and public speaking skills for project descriptions and funding requests.

Bagnell plans to bring the go-kart to other school departments. "I would really like to take it down to the science department and do some collaboration with them," he said.

Bagnell noted that most hydrogen-powered vehicles are being developed at the university or the professional levels. "The fact that a high school student is doing it is pretty incredible," he said. "As far as we know it's the first of its kind especially at the level we did it."

Armet made side steps for a four-wheel drive truck for his 2014-15 project which was a Welding Process/Machine Work entry in last year's county fair and received Best of Class for ninth-graders. "I still have two years with this kid," Bagnell said.

German Marrulo made an ant out of rocks and recycled metal and won Best in Show for General Metal Work as well as Best of Class for ninth-graders. "He's a really, really hard worker, a really good kid," Bagnell said.

Metal ants are a yard decoration for many homes in Mexico. Marrulo's work included writing a paper about the ant as well as constructing the decoration. "He personified this thing," Bagnell said. "It was really a cool writeup and it really blew me away when he won."

Marrulo's paper which gave the ant a personality complemented the appreciation of his project. "He did a good job. People loved it," Bagnell said.

Bagnell was the materials donor for Terry Valencia, who won Best in Show for Other Project entries as well as Best of Class for ninth-graders. "I gave him some pieces of wood," Bagnell said. "He made a live-edge table."

The wood came from a tree which had been in front of Bagnell's house. Bagnell told Valencia that he could have the wood if he helped Bagnell cut down the tree. Valencia was given what was originally a log. "He turned it into a beautiful live-edge table," Bagnell said.

Bagnell noted that two Fallbrook freshmen received Best in Show honors. "That's pretty unheard of. They're lucky if they get Best in Show if they're a senior," he said. "It's a testament to what these kids are capable of doing."

The Group Project judges gave two Best of Class awards for first-year students in grades 10 through 12. One of those was given for a Poway High School go-kart and the other was given for the live-edge table constructed by Fallbrook freshman Mikey Sandoval and seniors Austin Register and Tyler Machado. The table has wood on top and a steel base. The base can hold eight wine bottles and underneath the wood a rack is capable of storing 21 wine glasses. Wire around the table is in the shape of vines with grapes.

"It's beautiful. It's so well done. It's professional grade quality," Bagnell said. "They could easily sell this and have a business."

Machado may go into business for himself in the future, but he is now a full-time paid apprentice for a local structural steel company. "It's a great thing," Bagnell said.