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When you’re the kind of guy who loves to build things, it’s natural to approach college selection as an engineering problem. And that’s what Christopher Lopez did—analyzing how to produce a desired result in the most convenient and cost-effective—and fun!—manner.
In Lopez’ case, the goal was acquiring a technical education in a liberal arts environment from an institution “not too near and not too far” from his Long Island home of West Babylon, N.Y. Tuition rates had to be attractive and—here’s a big issue—Lopez insisted on being able to play college-level lacrosse.
“We did the whole search thing, then sat down and looked at all the variables,” he says. “Lafayette was just the obvious choice.” Lopez, who has joined Lafayette’s Class of 2007, learned about Lafayette through Terrence Mangan, head men’s lacrosse coach who saw him play at an exclusive lacrosse camp during summer 2002. Mangan was not the only coach to approach Lopez, but when he learned that Lafayette’s engineering program was among the country’s top 10, he “definitely” listened more closely.
What Lopez likes about engineering is making things happen. As a drummer on his high school band, he was the one responsible for getting members to performances. At Lafayette, he plans on investigating the percussion ensemble. “I want to have fun,” he says. “That’s what music is all about.”
When his school joined the National Robotics Competition, Lopez was named to design an electrical system for West Babylon’s entry. “The goal was to build a bot that would move stacked boxes from the center of the playing field to one end while also keeping the other side from scoring,” he explains. West Babylon’s robot was a modified model car with a plow in front. Lopez’s job was to select the correct gauge of wire to deliver maximum pushing power from the motor.
As it turned out, the robot designed by Lopez’s team ranked 14th out of 30 in the competition. Not bad, he thinks, for West Babylon’s first year in the competition. And not bad for Lopez who—just for fun—also designed the entire robot out of Legos.