Like Father

In 1986, TOM RANCOUR (CE 94) won the same regional science fair at South Dakota Mines as a high school sophomore. Tom’s project, Solar Cell Efficiency Enhancement Using a Fresnel Lens, also won first place overall, and he traveled to the international science fair held coincidentally in Dallas, Texas.

“It's a little like ‘Groundhog Day,’ but he is in my place repeating the same steps,” says Tom with a laugh. “I am looking forward to having some of the same experiences my dad did down in Dallas at the international fair,” Louis adds.

Tom went on to finish a degree in civil engineering in 1994 from South Dakota Mines and then added a master’s degree at Mines in the same field a year later. Today, he works as a forensic engineer examining the causes of various structural collapses, often in grain bins. He says the experience at the international fair in high school was an important part of his overall career in engineering.

“Traveling to Dallas as a high school kid exposed me to people from other parts of the world and, most importantly, ideas from all around the world and people who have ways of thinking different from our own,” says Tom. “Louis was in the engineering category just like I was back then, and I’m so pleased he will get to see this event.”

This year, Wall High School did not hold its own science fair and did not send any students to the regional

LOUIS RANCOUR, A SOPHOMORE FROM WALL HIGH SCHOOL IN SOUTH DAKOTA, TOOK HOME THE TOP HONORS AT THIS YEAR’S HIGH PLAINS REGIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR HELD AT SOUTH DAKOTA MINES 37 YEARS AFTER HIS DAD WON THE SAME TOP HONORS AT THIS EVENT.