WRITTEN BY SHELLY BRANDON
COOL KID Kevin Heywood Kevin Heywood is an upcoming senior at Inspire School of Arts and Sciences. He is a prime example of how, in the right setting, the often-incongruous subjects of engineering and the arts can intertwine and complement each other. Kevin is pursuing an engineering course of study at Inspire and is enrolled in a variety of classes ranging from Principles of Biotechnical Engineering to AP Computer Science. His interest in engineering led him to partner with the arts at Inspire through their technical theatre program.
This past year, they’ve produced two large-scale productions, Phantom of the Opera and Alice in Wonderland. The set for Phantom was very involved and consisted of many large intricately engineered pieces including a giant, twostory moveable staircase, an elephant, and various smaller set items. Kevin also enjoys working backstage during the shows, helping with costume issues and running the fly system; a system of ropes, pulleys and weights that controls the scenery, lights, and curtains. Kevin says the most challenging aspect of working on these big productions is time management and the amount of effort it requires, but he says, “It always pays off in the end.” Unfortunately, due to Covid, the intricate and complicated shows were not able to bring in the usual proceeds to help cover the cost of production. Kevin hopes that community members will visit the Inspire website at www.inspirechico. 58
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org to donate to the foundation to help offset these costs so their theatrical productions can continue to be an instrument of learning and inspiration for the students. In addition to his work with the theatre, Kevin is a member of Inspire’s Environmental Club. The club’s current project is the Precious Plastics Upcycling Workspace. The inspiration for the program came from a study by the Royal Statistical Society, which found more than 40% of plastic is used only once before it’s discarded as waste. The project aims to take ‘junk plastics’ and recycle them into usable items, which in turn, highlights the importance of environmental stewardship. Kevin says they sort and clean the plastic before sending it through a shredding machine obtained through fundraising efforts. The shredded plastic waste will then be loaded into another machine called an injector, which pours the molten plastic into various molds. Currently, the molds they are using create carabiners out of the recycled plastic waste. Kevin is looking forward to continuing his engineering focus during his senior year at Inspire and then wants to attend UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, or UC San Diego to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. We applaud Kevin’s contributions and wish him well wherever it is he finds himself making a difference.
