07-05-2025
Students impress at this year's Rose Show
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Rose-Hulman is a top ranked engineering school in the U.S. and at the end of every year, students get to show off innovative projects that they've been working on at the Rose Show.
This year's Rose Show featured over 130 student projects, representing nearly every academic department.
Rose-Hulman President Rob Coons said these projects will make an impact in the real world.
'It's really kind of Rose-Hulman's modern version of the world's fair', Coons said. 'The idea is that students have senior design and capstone projects that they've been working on, generally with a client. This creates an opportunity for them to actually present their project and show how it works.'
One group of students, including senior Emily Buchta, built a stream table for kids that will be used at the Montessori Academy in Terre Haute.
'It's durable, so it's a lot lower so that children can interact with it', Buchta said. 'We have different handles and things that children can grab on to, it's very sturdy. We also created these side panels in it that children can look in. You can see erosion happening, you can see deposition, landforms, waterforms. We have four different educational packs that we have created, so as the child goes through the Montessori method, they can do different things with the stream table.'
Another group, with senior Jake Gibbs, worked with the City of Terre Haute to plan out engineering solutions in a local neigborhood.
'It's called Terre Town, up in northern Terre Haute', Gibbs said. 'It was a project that was assigned to us by our professors, but it's a neighborhood that is in great need here in Terre Haute. They are having issues with cracking in their pavement. They also have undersized roads, a lack of any walkable paths in the neighborhood, and ponding issues.'
Years down the road, students are hoping to see their projects still being used.
'Coming back as an alumni, especially during homecoming, and seeing this stream table still running and that our clients are still using it to teach these kids about stem topics that I really love', Buchta said. 'It just means so much to me and so much to my team. We've put in so much work just to make this product, not only a good product, but something that is built for this academy that these children can use and love for years to come.'
The Rose Show is the last big project for seniors, as most plan to give their work to their collaborating organization next week, before walking the stage at commencement on May 31st.
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