High school senior embraces 'test run' of Purdue through EPICS project
Mateo Valdez was nervous about his EPICS project.
Not because he thought it was outside his budding electrical engineering skill set. But because his team was entirely engineering students at Purdue University, and he was a student at Frankfort High School 40 minutes away.
Valdez’s capstone project proved to be a challenge in more ways than the technical: He would be interacting with college students and remotely working with them on a project. And, basically, Valdez was takin his stop choice college for a test run.
The EPICS experience has only made him want to attend Purdue more. Even if she spent most of his time on the project working remotely with the team.
“I met the whole team when we were in Indianapolis, meeting our community partner,” Valdez said. “They were just so kind to me. They’re great people and definitely will accept you into (their project).”
As a senior, Valdez must complete a capstone project for an engineering course with teacher Dainon Wray. Projects must span the full academic year and relate to engineering. Valdez originally reached out to EPICS about the K-12 program.
When EPICS assistant director of the EPICS K-12 program Charese Williams suggested Valdez take the opportunity to experience a college-level design project, he accepted.
“I was looking at past K-12 projects when I decided I wanted to do EPICS,” Valdez said. “We saw students make amazing things to serve their community. I found out that my high school had K-12 once but didn’t anymore, and so going to the college level was perfect for what I wanted to do.”
Williams was confident that Valdez could not only keep up in a collegiate setting, but thrive as well.
“Mateo’s love for engineering shines through, even over the phone,” Wiliams said. “We don’t often have high school students who can balance a full plate of classes with a college level course, so Mateo is pioneering a bit of a new path for us and how (EPICS) can collaborate with young engineers throughout Indiana on Purdue team projects.”
Valdez is part of the Indianapolis Children’s Museum team called Children’s Educational Demonstrations (CED). The team creates stimulating and interactive exhibits to teach children about scientific concepts like gravity and engineering terms and fields like electrical engineering and circuitry. The CED-created exhibit on circuits required a supplemental digital brochure to present the fundamentals in a format that students can take home and study.
It was a perfect project for Valdez to join remotely: He called in to the weekly lab to brainstorm with the CED team and worked on the digital brochure detailing the fundamentals of an electrical circuit board. In writing and diagrams, Valdez explained what each part is, how components function and how to assemble a simple circuit.
For four months, Valdez enjoyed a college workshop, complete with student-driven collaboration and feedback sessions, while still in high school.
Valdez hopes that his experience in EPICS will inspire Frankfort High School students to take part in EPICS. And maybe revitalize its EPICS K-12 program.
Even more so, Valdez hopes that this is the beginning of his Purdue Engineering journey as a college student. He applied to attend Purdue in the incoming fall 2026 semester and said the university is his top choice by far.
“When I saw the lab and talked to the people (in EPICS), I knew I wanted to be at Purdue,” Valdez said. “Electrical engineering is the field I want to study, and I learned about circuits and 3D printing as a sophomore. I fell in love with it all, and to study it would be amazing.”
EPICS is celebrating 30 years of impactful service and hands-on engineering design to Purdue University, undergraduate students and the local and global community. Keep up with EPICS news on the anniversary page and support current and future EPICS students by becoming a partner or making a gift.