We had a wonderful time at Mullingar Library today as part of Engineers Week. We met two civil engineers from Westmeath County Council. Ann Marie told us about the different types of engineers there are. She works in the area of restoring buildings in the Westmeath area. She showed us images of the designs she created that are being used to change the old school in Kinnegad into a modern, energy efficient new library. Gary works in the Roads Department. He showed us a video of the installation of the pedestrian bridge in Athlone. Many engineers were working on this project. Expertise from engineers from Holland and Spain were needed to make this project a success. We met 3 firemen. Engineers design the equipment firemen use. We had a chance to try on the jacket, boots and even had a chance to use the thermal camera. We couldn't believe how heavy the uniform was! We designed a railway system on a designing website and controlled a robot so that it could pick up a ball and throw it at a target. We learned how wind turbines and water generators work. When we were leaving, we all got a goodie bag! Finally, as it was such a nice Spring day, we stopped off in the park on the way back to school.
