Camila Pereira
•6/16/2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Immokalee Middle School students are getting a month-long taste of college life through hands-on learning in various fields of study.
This week, the students worked with Florida Gulf Coast University's engineering school. The partnership between FGCU's Whitaker Institute and the Immokalee Foundation brings students 30 miles from home to experience what it's like to be an engineer.
"Building bridges, balsawood houses, building a protective layer for eggs that we launch in the air," said Lauren Redfern, associate professor of environmental engineering at FGCU.
The activities focus on building and optimization. "Trying to have a bunch of hands-on activities where they are building something and trying to optimize it. Make it better," Redfern said.
"Every year it's amazing to see that our students get this opportunity," said Noemi Perez, president and CEO of the Immokalee Foundation. "It's open doors for them. They can now see themselves whether it's on a campus like FGCU, or another campus, or in some of these different professions, and so it really builds that leadership and confidence in them."
Students worked on projects ranging from building affordable structures to creating planes that could fly the farthest. Eighth-grader Laycie described her egg protection challenge.
"I wrapped the index card around the egg, put cotton balls and then put it in the cup, put cotton balls around the cup and then sealed off the top. And it was hard," Laycie said.
Some students' eggs cracked while others survived the launch. But the experience taught them a valuable lesson about engineering.
"It takes different tries, multiple tries to accomplish something. And you just have to keep on trying," said Laycie Brown, an eighth-grade student with the Immokalee Foundation. "If you fail, you try again. You fail, you try again. It's a learning process."
WINK News reporter Camila Pereira spoke with students who said they can't wait to see what they'll get to build next.
