“If the explosion of the combustion reaction is countering the upward motion of the piston, wouldn’t that create fractures in the rod of the piston, making it useless?” I answered the instructor of the auto-mechanics presentation I signed up for during Vocational Career Exploration Day, hosted by my school board.
A look of surprise crossed his face. I was right.
I was one of three girls in the room of maybe 40 other grade 10 students. He wasn’t expecting much from us as whole, with the temperature of our room far too high for mid-April, and our being the last group of the day.
He most likely expected even less from the girls. I knew that one wouldn’t be participating since she was tagging along with me to the session, as I’d gone to the first two of three with her.
Next slide.
A video starts explaining how pistons are powered by combustion reactions and that if they overheat, things could get dangerous.
“What would be good way to avoid the engine overheating?” The instructor asks, after having paused the video. English isn’t his first language.
Probably not his second language either.
My hand shoots up.
“You could use a coolant liquid or you could stop the engine to let it cool down.”
He nods. “Yes – usually it’s the coolant that’s okay if you need to keep moving.”
The rest of the video plays out.
I’m half listening, half playing with my name tag/schedule.
Next slide.
“Let’s talk about other side of things – what would you use to protect the engine in the winter?”
My hand’s up before he’s finished asking his question. “Anti-freeze.”
He nods, smiling this time.
Our back and forth routine of theory-question-answer goes on for the remainder of the 50 minute information session.
The micro-lesson finishes up with him offering for someone to come up and try changing a part of the engine that he had off to the side of the front of the room. Having monopolised the theory aspect, I stayed in my spot, happy to see the girl I didn’t know get up to take part in the applied component of the session.
The bell rings, and we line up on our way out, collecting an information pamphlet on auto-mechanic courses, a pen with the vocational school’s information on it, and a set of sticky notes.
The instructor hands off a pamphlet to the guy standing in front of my friend, a smile comes across his face when our eyes meet.
“How you know so much?” He asks in his broken English.
I take the collection of promotional information from the instructor, saying with a smile, “It’s just science.”
See You at BU 