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by Michael Larsen
Section Editor
NS has recently revved back up the small engines class, with shop teacher Brandon Olsen teaching the class. Students now have the opportunity to learn to repair small combustion engines.
“It’s based on smaller Briggs & Stratton platform-type engines,” Olsen said, “so it’s a foundational course just to teach two-cycle and four-cycle theory. It’s a great class for high school because it goes through all the components, and we tear the motor down. It’s also a great course for those interested in autos.”
Olsen supported adding an auto class to NS and is certified to teach an engines course. NS used to offer a small engines class years ago, but Olsen expects it to now stay an option for good. The class was approved last year once there was room for it to be taught.
“We just started it back up,” Olsen said. “We had small engines here years and years ago. It’s traditionally a part of the agriculture mechanics class, but we had some space open up in that room where Mr. Cox used to have his office back during the COVID shutdown. Nan Ault was on the phone talking to me about storage, and I told her that would make a great little small engines room, so that’s kind of how it started.”
Students can bring engines from home to work on as projects in class, but Olsen has found it hard to find more space. He wishes to one day have a room for a complete auto add-on.
“With that many students, that whole lab, it’s not big enough for what we need,” Olsen said, “so what we’ve been doing is storing everything in there then pulling it out when we need to. Having an engines class in a woodshop is not ideal, but we’re making it work.”
The school is currently waiting on a delayed shipment of motors to learn with. Despite a slow start to the class, students are optimistic.
“Their attitudes have been good,” Olsen said. “I’ve had them in the classroom a lot because I’ve been waiting on stuff to get here, but yeah, I feel like they’re a good class. They want to be working on the motors, so today, I had them working out in the shop working on the engines, and they were doing awesome. All of them were engaged.”
Most students expressed excitement about taking the class. Many students explained how they expected to use skills from the class outside of school.
“I think it’s going to be my career,” junior Darld Swapp said. “I want to learn more about it, and I just love working on them. Even though I know a lot already, I want to learn a lot more about engines. I’m already using it right now on my truck. Every time it breaks, I have to tear it down. I don’t call no mechanic. I’ll do it myself.”
NS sophomore Owen Drew mentioned how he enjoyed the hands-on aspect of teaching. He explained how Olsen made learning understandable and applicable.
“The first things we learned were about car engines,” Drew said, “because they’re a little more complex than the smaller ones so we learned from that, then switched to the small engines. It kind of made it easier to understand.”
Olsen told how he enjoys helping students find passion in their schoolwork and that he sees the small engines class as a conduit for that passion.
“I have one right now who actually brought in this cool, super old, Briggs & Stratton motor that’s probably from the 1960s,” said Olsen, “and he’s tearing that apart. It’s fun. But still, even if that motor’s old or whatever and these motors we’re working on are basic as far as the platform goes, it still teaches the same components of how an engine works. That’s what the class is all about.”
