Whiz Kid: SkillsUSA Student Sees Robotics as the Future

Each week, Mehlville Patch highlights a young person in the community who is making a positive difference. These kids are doing outstanding academic work, winning an award or exhibiting exemplary qualities. Know a great kid? Nominate them by e-mailing sarah.flagg@patch.com

Name: Emily Sansone

Age: 16

School: Mehlville High School

Accomplishment: Emily has completed and excelled in the first two engineering courses at Mehlville High School and is more than ready to begin number three, digital electronics, in the fall.

Key to Awesomeness: Emily is a member of SkillsUSA, where she is active in fundraisers for the organization as well as spreading the word about the joys of preparing for careers in technology. SkillsUSA is a community service group that works on various projects during the school year and incorporates technical skills learned in classes. The chapter meetings are at school, usually once a week. Emily sees the meetings as not only learning experiences in engineering, but also as a chance to share ideas.

“The SkillsUSA meetings are fun and they help develop leadership skills. Our sponsor is Mr. Schimmel and he is very good. We learn about the need for cooperation and how to focus on the topic at hand in order to get things done,” Emily said.  

Emily’s favorite subjects are engineering, band and chemistry.

“In engineering, we get to build stuff. In band, we learn to play an instrument and get to socialize with all of our friends. In chemistry, we get to blow things up,” Emily said.

Band is definitely a highlight of Emily’s school day. She plays percussion keyboards and controls the sounds of 20 different instruments.

“It’s like playing a piano keyboard, only you use mallets instead of fingers,” she said.

This summer, Emily will attend two engineering camps, one at Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville and one at Washington University. Marching band practice will take up her vacation time as well, practicing with the band Monday through Thursday. In addition, Emily is working at the St. Louis Science Center and is in training for the upcoming Body Worlds exhibit.