More than 100 students at LeTourneau University in Longview are doing mission work in seven states and Mexico during this week’s spring break.
April Paul, a junior electrical engineering major from Greenville, Texas, is with a team of six students and a professor in Elkhart, Ind. It’s home to the HCJB Global Technology Center. This Christian ministry builds radio stations from the ground up all over the world, providing the equipment and tech support to keep them running. Paul is wiring a buck booster. It’s equipment that simulates the unclean power sources that the radio transmitters will have to withstand.
“The output is a phase-shifted overvoltage or undervoltage with transient and surge errors in it. It’s to simulate power in third world countries so we can test our transmitters on it and see how durable and sturdy the creatures are," Paul said.
Her fellow students are working on power inverters, a solar-powered lamppost and Java programming to remotely control some equipment. Paul says it’s a week of putting her classroom knowledge to the test while helping further a Christian cause.
“We also often learn a lot for our own courses when we come back, having done a lot of practical applications. In some ways it’s like a week-long lab. We can definitely learn a lot that we can bring back to the school," Paul said.
LeTourneau students at other mission sites are doing everything from fixing aircraft in Ohio to organizing the Christian literature in a ship stationed in South Carolina. They wrap up their volunteer week on Friday.
