Schools want to order the Thorminator Challenge?

Special offer:?Order the?Thorminator?Challenge?now!

The pictures did not convert so send me your email and i will forward original message. [email protected]

?only $150/hour session for schools in NC?- 25 participants/hour but can perform in front assemblies or in media centers, cafeterias/classrooms or even outside during good weather conditions.?

Outside of 50 miles from Asheboro, NC plus mileage required. If out of state $250/hour

First 10 schools who register can order for just $120/hour before Feb 15th

During the?Thorminator?Challenge?students learn about manufacturing pathways to support the Mega Growth?underway in NC.?

Payment required upon delivery of service?Net 30 is an additional $50 fee.?Offer expires?March 15th

??????????????Great program for all ages!

Even adults during?the EDPNC advisory meeting had fun with The?Thorminator?Challenge?

But my dream is to help middle and high school students become better prepared for the mega growth underway and pursue?education?at their community colleges and take the technical classes students would normally not consider but are desperately needed to continue to support the manufacturing renaissance underway in NC.?Students in rural and underserved communities need to know more viable career paths than sports and entertainment.?

The Thorminator, a new tool to get kids more interested in tools, toured Davidson County NC Middle Schools

The dream is to offer this statewide

Help students clear up their future fog and get ready for advanced manufacturing jobs.

To help Career Technical Education, CTE,? students to get a better appreciation of engineering functions and to get more excited about tools, the Thorminator Challenge was created.

Students are divided up into groups of civil engineers, mechanical engineers and forensic engineers. Engineering schools joke that civil engineers make targets, mechanical engineers make weapons and forensic engineers evaluate the mess.?

So during CTE classes, area Davidson County Middle Schools and assigning students into these groups. The civil engineering groups get a piece of foam, 2 feet of duct tape, some other items and an egg. Their job is to create protection for their egg.?Each team has to name their egg.

Photo provided by Mandy Coppley

CTE Students at North Davidson Middle School team up to pick up the?

Thorminator, a 50 pound hammer

The smallest students in the class are assigned to be mechanical engineers. Their job is to hoist the 50 pound hammer and smash the civil engineer's egg protection. This forces them to team up and hoist the hammer together and take out some aggression on those who possibly pick on them in a healthy way.. ?

We play taps for the loss of the egg and the Civil Engineer team goes into mourning. The Mechanical engineers revel in their victory. Conversely when the eggs survives the civil engineers cheer and conversely the mechanical are dejected they did not achieve their mission.

After the smashing, the forensic engineers evaluate the damage and determine if the egg survived the smashing. One group of forensic engineers try to figure out how to better protect the egg and another Forensic engineers group have to figure out how to further smash it and present their conclusions to the class.

Photo provided by Mandy Coppley

CTE Students at North Davidson Middle School? do a forensic analysis to see if the egg survived the smashing of the Thorminator.,a 50 pound hammer

This simple exercise gets the students to switch their thought processes into their roles and better connect with engineering functions while at the same time having fun. Fun is the most important element. Analysts have evaluated that students better comprehend lessons when fun elements are included.?

From the past and the future, the Thorminator, half Thor, half Terminator, was created to help Forge Greensboro Makerspace raise money for a new space by smashing an old Volvo. Scrap aircraft aluminum CNC cut parts donated by a local machine shop,? were welded together to form the giant hammer.?

??Then later volunteer techies at Maker Depot in Totowa, NJ added over 1000 LEDs which really gets kids attention. I have taken the Thorminator to over 45 states and estimate over 20,000 people have hoisted the monstrosity as a challenge and taken selfies. I? tell the kids, “You know what it means if you can pick up a 50 pound hammer?? That means you can also pick up your clothes and your toys.” Then their parents high five me and agree. The kids look up as if they have been tricked but are proud of their achievement, as they should be.?

CTE Students at North Davidson Middle School got to pick up the Thorminator, a 50 pound hammer

The pictures did not convert so send me your email and i will forward original message.

So why is The Thorminator important??

In this era, when everyone's head is stuck into their cell phones something big, different and interesting needed to be created to wake people up to the fact there are so many other tools that are important to use too, hence the creation of the Thorminator

half Thor, half Terminator

from the past and the future!

The Thorminator and inventor, Joel Leonard with Mythbusters Adam Savage at the Nation of Makers Conference

When I met Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, Adam had just written a best selling book called “Every tool can be a hammer.” I told him every tool could be a hammer but not every hammer can be a Thorminator. Adam was amazed at the monstrous size of the 50 pound hammer.?

Everyone asks what the Thorminator actually does? I say it does something miraculous in this era of time. The Thorminator gets people to put down their cell phones and pick up tools. Since it was home made, it is a great example that we don't have to buy everything, we can still make cool stuff ourselves. That's an important, inspirational message for students to learn. Much more important to make items than to just go to a big box store and just buy stuff.?

To create even more interest and to locate after possible theft , Thorminator decals were added.

So let's GIVE WORK A CHANCE and grow the next generation of innovators and manufacturers here in Davidson County. Go Davidson County Grow!!!

Joel Leonard, the founder of MakesboroUSA, is a NC based workforce development consultant from Lexington who was inducted into the 2021 Order of Long Leaf Pine for his efforts to grow pipelines of talent. Reach him at 336-303 8660 - [email protected]

? ? ? ? ? ? ????????? ?#####

10/13/2022

To Whom It May Concern,

Joel Leonard from Makesboro USA came to visit my class

today to get the kids excited and motivated to learn about CTE.

He discussed Mechanical, Civil, and Forensic Engineering, then he

involved the students in a hands-on activity related to these

careers. He assigned jobs as the students walked in the

classroom. He explained that they had the materials on their

desks to protect an egg from being smashed by a giant hammer.

Building the protective devices was an example of Civil Engineering.

Using the hammer was an example of Mechanical Engineering. He

had students check to see if the egg was smashed or not, which

was an example of Forensic Engineering.

He had a discussion about jobs coming to NC and how they

should take certain classes because there are programs that allow

them to be apprentices, which could offer wonderful job

opportunities. He also introduced them to and let them use a

infrared thermal gun and a long range acoustic device.

The kids loved it! They were engaged, motivated, and kept

asking when he was going to come back. He was engaged with the

kids the whole time. I truly enjoyed seeing them so excited. I

think it would be great if they could have more of these

experiences.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Amanda Coppley

C.T.E. Teacher

North Davidson Middle School

To Whom It May Concern,

I would just like to take the time to describe a recent

morning in my 8 th and 7 th grade Technology classes at Ledford

Middle School. Mr. Joel Leonard of Makesboro USA visited our

classes and guided my students on a technological adventure

that…in my opinion….ALL students should have the opportunity to

experience. Through several hands-on, project based learning

challenges, the students “accidentally” gained some tech knowledge

and career information while having a blast. Even this seasoned

teacher had some fun! The next day, the majority of my tech

students eagerly asked if and when Mr. Leonard was coming back.

Unfortunately, I could not give them a solid answer.

Wouldn’t it be great to have students experience this type of

learning and display this type of attitude much more often within

their school lives? I think the answer is obvious. In closing, please

help us educators make this happen on a more frequent basis. We

need to find the funding that will allow Mr. Leonard to work his

“magic” in as many schools and classrooms as absolutely possible.

These experience can do so much in preparing our children to face

the working world that lies ahead of them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Jeff Teague

C.T.E. Teacher

Ledford Middle School

Special offer??

For only $150/hour for schools in Central NC?- 25 participants/hour but can perform in front assemblies or in media centers, cafeterias/classrooms or even outside during good weather conditions.?

outside of 100 miles from Asheboro, NC plus mileage required

First 10 NC schools who register can order for just $120/hour

Offer expires?March 15th

Payment required upon delivery of service?

Net 30 is an additional?50 fee.?

Call 336 303 8660 or email?[email protected]?

?When you walk around with the Thorminator on your shoulder like Paul Bunyan wielding a giant ax, kids pay attention. Security does too. It was not easy to get approved by secret service patrols when I took the Thorminator to the US Congressional Maker Faire back in 2018. For some reason, each time I take Thorminator? to an airport, the TSA staff says I have to go through the “random check” for inspection.

ORDER NOW The?Thorminator?Challenge?

@?(336) 303 8660

[email protected]

Great for assemblies, corporate team building, birthday parties, manufacturing celebrations,?