Centennial Students Create Franklin Square Model

Published May 3, 2013

If you've ever been to Franklin, you have probably spent time in the city's historic Public Square. For over a century, the area has served as a gathering spot for residents, tourists and the like.

Earlier this year, Centennial High School Drafting Teacher Tim Sawyer challenged some of his students to create an accurate model of Franklin's Public Square.

A total of 16 students from Sawyer's Computer Aided Design (CAD) classes rose to the challenge, spending numerous hours before, during and after school working on the project.

"We began by going to the square and taking measurements," said CHS Student Allison Bruning. "I sketched out some of the objects while other students called out measurements."

They then divided the workload as each one focused on a specific object, taking great pains to make sure every detail was accounted for, from the inscriptions on the monument to the chip in the statue's hat.

"When they were erecting the statue in 1899, the statue hit the pedestal which caused part of the statue's hat to break off," said CHS Student Molly Leasure. "They never fixed it so you can still see it today."

The students then used a program called Inventor to turn the two dimensional objects they had created into 3-D images. When they were finished, the students used the school's 3-D printer to print off a prototype before printing the finished product.

The project took a total of three weeks from start to finish. It's the kind of project that would have never been possible before the school acquired its state-of-the-art 3-D printer last year.

"Because of the 3-D printer our students can conceive an idea and get the finished product in three weeks and they completely did every part of it," said Sawyer. "It was a tremendous problem solving project in which they all had to work together."

"This is by far my favorite class," said CHS Student Brandon Winger. "This is what I want to do the rest of my life. I always wanted to be an engineer but this class really made it concrete. I'm going to Tennessee Tech and they actually use the same software that we use here."

While the students hope to donate the completed model to a local Williamson County organization for display, they admit it will be hard to see it go.

"This is our baby," said CHS Student Travis Walker. "We put a lot of hard work into this project."