By Superintendent Dr. David Leach,
Warwick Valley Central School District
Sixth grade student Logan Rivelli has been tapping into his inner Creator/Innovator.
“Logan had a plastic puzzle he was showing some friends during lunch one day, so I was asking him about it and he explained that he’d made it using his 3-D printer at home,” said Warwick Valley Middle School Principal Georgianna Diopoulos.
Logan says that he is a fan of science and math when it comes to academics, but it wasn’t just his classes that got him interested in the methods and mechanics of 3-D printing and home manufacturing. His cousin first showed him the technology a few years ago.
Logan said he had no idea what he was doing at first, but took his dad’s advice and read every line of instructions carefully when he began. He also found help learning about printing software through YouTube videos. He prefers to work from blueprints that he finds online and preps for print using a program called Cura.
Logan has progressed from creating simple cubes to making toys with moving parts. Things like tiny toy dragons, a fighter jet with movable wings that hatches from an egg – a gift for his little brother – and the octopus with hinged tentacles that sits in Principal Diopolous’ office. He printed a money-maze puzzle box for his friend’s birthday, and even got into experimenting with PPE in 2020.
“I printed a whole bunch of masks,” he said. “They were made out of a hard material, and had spots for filters and elastic bands to be attached, but they ended up being a little hard to breathe in.”
Principal Diopoulos also shared that Logan has offered to make a bobble-heads of the Middle School administrators, but that it may take some time as he adds to his toolbox.
“In order to do bobble-heads, I need to get a 3-D scanner so I can scan their heads for exact measurements, and those aren’t cheap” said Logan, although he looks forward the challenge down the road.
When it comes to other school activities, Logan plays violin in the orchestra and is looking forwards to the comeback of Wire Choir, which he played in last year. In his last year of Elementary School, Logan was also active in Green Team and Change Makers, where students made new items out of recycled things. He is also an avid skier who enjoys a Saturday on the slopes at Mount Peter.
Logan has certainly shown himself to be an Innovator and Creator, two important aspects of our district’s Portrait of a Graduate that will serve him well as he pursues the possibility of becoming an engineer.
Each week, Warwick Valley Central School District Superintendent Dr. David Leach shines the “Superintendent’s Spotlight” on one of Warwick Valley’s amazing students. “Superintendent’s Spotlight” features students who reach goals, face challenges, and are role models to their peers.
