Oliver Wedman Designed Products Through a Client Connected Project, Now Every Kansas Legislator Has One

Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) Engineering Instructor, Jessica Tickle was working in the classroom next to Shawnee Mission Northwest junior and engineering student, Oliver Wedman, when she found out. Her eyes widened at the email on her computer, as she jolted from her desk to find Wedman. 

Oliver! Do you know they’re talking about you through the entire state capitol building? 

Last fall, Wedman created 3D printed products for Enterprise KC through a Client Connected Project. The tools are logos, with a QR code that anyone — in this case Kansas Legislators — can scan and be directed to Enterprise KC’s website. 

“He thought he was making these little 3D printed models,” Tickle said. “He started delivering the products to them, thinking they were just trinkets, like any student would, right? But then they started asking for more. He had to start going, ‘Okay, maybe this is bigger than I think it is.’”

Tickle was approached by Enterprise KC last fall, asking for students who could work on a project that was specific to 3D printing.

“Oliver and I had just gotten done talking about one of his projects he did on his own,” Tickle said. “I said to Eric, ‘Yeah, I’ve got someone.’ And I connected them.”

Wedman spoke with an intern at Enterprise KC, then Eric Mooney, a Talent and Workforce Development Leader. After being given files and design specifications for the project, and going through costs and documentation procedures, Wedman got to work. 

“He would step out of class to have a conference call with them,” Tickle said. “He would be writing a professional email. He would be doing cost sheets. He was figuring out how to buy materials. It was pretty cool.”

Tickle said she didn’t help Wedman at all through that process. 

It took him two weeks to 3D print the gadgets. He would set alarms for midnight and between his second and fourth hour to change out batches. He had to fill an order for 300 products. He printed them in 15 batches, each taking 17 hours.

Tickle said the mindset of an engineer, often preventing burnout in itself, is simply being “curious all the time, because you’re always building, and fixing, and wondering.”

“The first time I messed up several times,” Wedman said. “I was kind of running out of time and material for my mistakes. But I got it together.”

Now, Wedman’s 3D printed tools are sitting on the desks of Kansas legislators.

"Whether it’s to showcase a project or intern, there’s so many opportunities,” District 17 Representative, Jo Ella Hoye said. “Nothing makes me happier than when students come to the capitol.”

Wedman was introduced to engineering in 8th grade, at Trailridge Middle School. 

“I took robotics and design with Mr. Lanier,” Wedman said. “That wasn’t anything too crazy, but it kind of laid the groundwork for how I got interested in STEM.”

From there he took woodshop freshman year, which he’s still enrolled in now.

Sophomore year is really when his passion for engineering lifted off. It’s when he signed up for the Aerospace Engineering and Digital Electronics Signature Program with Tickle at the Center for Academic Achievement. 

To take those classes as a sophomore is rare, Tickle said. Her classroom, a jungle of wires, algorithms scrawled on whiteboards, and computer monitors, is typically filled with juniors and seniors. 

“He definitely had to work harder,” Tickle said. “He had to become a better student. Ask more questions. Not be so quiet.”

The challenging problems, and multi-step calculations follow him home. Wedman’s basement is usually enveloped in the droning sound and scent of burning plastic his 3D printers emit, as they craft his latest projects. 

“I really enjoy soldering and testing circuit boards with Arduino,” Wedman said. “And stuff that’s kind of the electrical side of it.”

Wedman utilizes computer aided design, leaning on engineering programs such as Fusion 360, CAD software, and more, which connect with the 3D printers in his basement, a gift from his grandparents. Lately, he’s been working on the prototype for a pulse jet engine.

“That’s mostly a frame,” Wedman said. “Really, the engineering part of that is custom fabricating a reed valve.”

Most, if not all of Wedman’s time is spent working on engineering. He still works with Enterprise KC, and has consulted with some of the largest engineering firms in Kansas City. 

“A thing that sticks out to me is that every single engineering teacher I've ever had has been absolutely incredible,” Wedman said. “They're super helpful. They push you super hard, which is obviously difficult, but it puts you into the headspace that you need to be in for engineering.”

After graduation he’s interested in pursuing electrical engineering.

“There’s so many types of engineering,” Wedman said. “Electrical engineering is like a million different things. I want to be an engineer, but there’s so many different choices. I’m still figuring that out.”