DareDevil Design


In this popular full-year elective, sixth- and seventh-grade DareDevils develop products, ideas, and projects to help communities. In the Sandia Prep DesignLab, they practice creative, critical, and constructive processes that teach everything from design and engineering to teamwork. Check out what's happening in our DareDevil Design classes in the updates below:
Latest DareDevil Design News & Accomplishments
DareDevils Tasked with Designing Dynamic Assistive Technology
Blue Origin Rocket Scientist Mentors Prep's Aspiring Engineers
"We need you guys. We need you guys to, basically, save us."
Alumnus Nima Jamshidi, a rocket scientist with Blue Origin, expressed how Prep's DareDevil Design students and generations after them will save our planet and shape the future of life in space. The video call with our 2000 graduate covered everything from reusable rockets and using water as fuel to affordable spaceflights and growing food on Mars.
Founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin is on a mission to build "a road to space so our children can build the future." The organization is hoping to accomplish this through things like reusable rockets and in-situ resource utilization.
Our 7th-grade DareDevil Design students will be visiting Mr. Jamshidi at Blue Origin's home base in Seattle during spring break, where they will see the construction of rockets and learn more about surviving in space.
The video call is just the beginning of Mr. Jamshidi's mentorship of our aspiring engineers. He says he hopes to "inspire the next generation to go into STEM careers."
DareDevil Design Students Awarded for Creative Solutions to Messy Situation at Kirtland Air Force Base
DareDevils Explore STEM Festival
DareDevils Learn Design Thinking
As part of the Lantern Project, DareDevils practiced the methodology of Design Thinking - principally, determining how and why they want to help a certain demographic or group of people in need. Students gave short presentations explaining their empathize process.
DareDevils Get Expert Advice for Future Cities Projects
DareDevil Design students met recently to go over their ideas and solutions for Future City projects with Ross Pino, Maintenance Superintendent for the Chama Water Treatment plant. They learned the current processes and technology used to take water from the Rio Grande and make it potable. They gathered tips on how to improve their own prototypes for devices to produce clean drinking water, and later took a field trip to the water treatment plant.
DareDevils Earn Accolades at Future City Competition
Three Sandia Prep DareDevil Design teams had strong showings with their drinking water supply innovations at the recent Future City Competition.
The best middle school engineering design teams in the state converged on the University of New Mexico School of Engineering to see who had the most viable solution to innovating a resilient drinking water supply to a city 100 years in the future.
The DareDevils were represented in three teams: Team Rio Grande (7th grade), Team Trees (6th grade), and Team Faucet (6th grade). Team Rio Grande (Issabella '25, Sydney '25, Nora '25) made it into the top five final round. These young ladies presented to and were questioned three times by a panel of six judges made up of engineers and scientists. They controlled their nerves, applied their public speaking skills, and answered every question with ease and like pros.
For their efforts, Team Rio Grande earned third place overall. With fifteen schools and more than thirty city models competing, this was no small feat. The DareDevils' ingenuity and creativity also were recognized as Team Faucet received a special award for Best Creative Use of Recreational Area. Team Trees received a notable award, Best Land Surveying Practices, as determined by a special judge representing the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. Along with a certificate of recognition, each team won $100 to spend on a celebratory pizza and ice cream lunch. Congratulations to all the DareDevils!