Michael Ala got a head start on his engineering career Wednesday.

A recent graduate of Central Public School heading to Massey Secondary this fall, he toured an open house displaying the capstone projects of fourth-year students in electrical and computer engineering—and came away impressed.

“I have always had an interest in this aspect of engineering,” he said. “Today was really educational and enjoyable.”

Mark Hernandez, entering grade 8 at Harrow Senior Public School, heard about the event on the radio and asked his mother to bring him. He said looking at the projects taught him one thing: “A lot of people here are really smart.”

“The robotic hand was really cool,” he said. “I can’t believe they built it in just seven months!”

His sister KayCyn, who will begin grade 6 in September agreed the bionic hand’s capacity for remote operation was “sweet.”

“You could disarm a bomb and be a city away,” she said, and had another thought. “You could use it to feed your fish.”

Fourth-year engineering major Paran Ahluwalia is a member of a group that produced a system to mine GPS data to aid drivers in anticipating traffic conditions. She said she enjoyed discussing their work with guests.

“People appreciated seeing an innovative project and were very encouraging about the opportunities for commercialization,” she said. “It was really an amazing experience.”