TP_011719

8 | January 17, 2019 | The tinley junction NEWS
tinleyjunction.com
Tinley business owner invites students to learn about engineering
Mary Compton
Freelance Reporter
It all began at a Chicago
White Sox game.
Frankfort resident Dave
Nelson and owner of Nel
PreTech Corporation in
Tinley Park, said he always
wanted to share his love for
engineering but didn’t know
how—until now. A graduate
of Marian Catholic in 1984,
Nelson hadn’t been back to
his old high school since,
but the night at the ballpark
would change all of that.
“This was purely by accident”
Nelson said. “This all
started at a Chicago White
Sox game. I was there with
my son. Pre-game we’re
enjoying some hot dogs,
then who marches out on
the field, the Marian Catholic
band who performed the
National Anthem. I left my
seat and tried to find some
people from Marian. The
Chicago White Sox had custom
made baseball hats with
the Marian Catholic logo on
it. I wanted one. There were
no hats left so I was told to
contact the school. I drove
out there days later to get my
hat. I was given a tour of the
school and got to go in the
engineering lab. That got me
excited.”
Nelson, who opened up
his business in 1993, began
to plan for Marian Catholic
students interested in engineering
to spend a day at his
company.
“I saw Marian’s 3D printer
and knew what they are
learning and what my company
does is related,” Nelson
said. “I got the idea to
bring the students here to
show the extensions of what
they’re doing at Marian.”
Nelson and his team
planned a half day for students
who are in the school’s
STEM program and engineering
honors classes to
learn hands on. According
to their website, Nel PreTech
is an “accredited dimensional
inspection laboratory, providing
dimensional inspection
services on most first
article manufactured parts.”
“They came here midmorning”
Nelson explains.
“We got them all in the conference
room where I wanted
to create that business environment.
I asked each one
of the students about themselves
and told them why
I got involved in what I do
now. It was ready for hands
on.”
Senior at Marian Catholic
Joshua Dale, was excited to
have hands on engineering
experience at Nel PreTech
for the day.
“At Marian we’re learning
how to work on projects that
help out the community and
the public to make life better,”
Dale explains. “What
an experience going to Nel
PreTech. They can scan anything
and make it into a 3D
model. I brought a toy hot
wheels car. They put it into
foam then scanned it into a
CT scanner. It took several
images per second.”
Nel Pretech has completed
more than 15,000 dimensional
inspection projects in
its state-of-the-art laboratory.
“That day I learned the
possibilities of what you can
do,” Dale adds.
Becky Bosco, who is the
new director of STEM programming
at Marian, went
along with the students on
the field trip.
“When I contacted Dave
Becauseyou deserveit.
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Nelson, he jumped right in
and organized the day for
six students” said Bosco.
“It was such a professional
agenda. They do a lot of
product testing to make sure
things are uniform. We went
into the lab, each student
brought something small to
scan. They only had time to
scan two items. Each student
was asked to then modify it,
then 3D print it back at the
school.”
“Nel PreTech showed the
engineering students it’s not
one track,” Bosco said. “The
employees stopped their day
and showed the students
what each one did. For them
to see the reality of what engineers
do was so valuable.
One of the best things they
taught the students was the
ethics of engineering. The
chances of them to deal with
ethics in some point in their
career as an example of the
pressure to cut corners. They
needed to hear that to take
honesty into their careers.”
Nelson wants to expose
more high school engineering
students to real life. He
is open to more field trips of
a small group of students to
come and learn about engineering
at his company.
“What we’re doing with
young people is great,” said
Nelson. “My reflection on
the whole process is we’ve
gone through great leaps of
technology since I graduated
high school. We need to understand
different cultures
[and] different languages
for us to interact globally. I
would make sure to learn the
language of computer and
technology. The one goal I
want to teach the students
is I tell them, always do the
right thing.”
8001 W. 183rdSt.
(708)532-8888
16700Oak Park Ave.
(708)781-0100
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