Fun fictional descriptions of the BUILD Program

BUILD, by Albert Einstein

When I was a boy, I was given a compass. It did not teach me physics, but it awoke my curiosity. That is what the BUILD Program does — it takes young minds and gives them something to touch, to question, and to understand through doing.

Too much education is like trying to learn to swim by reading a book. BUILD throws students into the pool — gently, yes, but certainly — and shows them how to move. They learn theory, yes, but they also learn practice: to solder, to measure, to model, to collaborate. They learn to listen. To fail. To retry. To discover that equations are not sacred scrolls — they are tools. And tools must be used.

I am often quoted as saying imagination is more important than knowledge. In BUILD, they are not separated. Imagination builds. Knowledge guides. Experience cements.

And the most beautiful thing of all?
These students will leave knowing not just what an engineer is — but what it feels like to be one.

— A. Einstein

BUILD, by Amelia Earhart

Some people wait for a clear runway. Others build the plane as they run down the field.

The BUILD Program is for the second kind.

These students aren’t waiting for permission. They’re already working — designing, testing, fixing, and flying through challenge after challenge. They don’t just talk about engineering. They live it.

What I admire most is their courage — not just to try, but to fail publicly, to say “this doesn’t work yet,” and to keep going anyway. That’s the spirit that built aviation, that crosses oceans, that makes the impossible doable.

And they do it together. Multidisciplinary, just like a flight crew. Mechanical, electrical, software — all hands on deck, all eyes on the horizon.

In BUILD, they don’t just earn degrees.
They earn wings.

— Amelia Earhart

BUILD, by Batman (Bruce Wayne)

You can train for years in the dark and still not be ready the first time the world hits back.

That’s why I support the BUILD Program.

They don’t wait for students to memorize the perfect move. They throw them into the arena. Tools in hand. Expectations high. Teams depending on each other. No shortcuts. No gadgets that solve the problem for you.

You learn what works — and what doesn’t.
You learn how to take a hit — and fix it better next time.
And you learn that working alone might feel heroic… but working together is what saves Gotham.

BUILD creates engineers who don’t just build machines.
They build resilience.

Now get back to the lab.

— Batman

The BUILD Program, by Benjamin Franklin

My Dear Reader,

Permit me a few reflections upon a most industrious undertaking I have lately encountered: a scholastic contrivance of such ingenuity and practical benefit, it might have spared me several kite-related injuries in my youth. It is called, most aptly, the BUILD Program.

Unlike our dear classical education — where young minds are filled with Latin, lofty theory, and impractical quantities of chalk dust — the BUILD Program insists students do things. They do not merely ponder mechanics, they build machines. They do not study electricity in abstraction, they wire circuits until they spark (and occasionally catch fire).

The students work in teams, learning not only the arts of engineering, but those higher virtues of cooperation, patience, and explaining one’s design flaws without resorting to insult. It is, in short, a curriculum that joins mind to hand, and theory to practice — a most illuminating proposition. If only such a program had been available to me, I might have avoided shocking myself half to death in that storm.

Industry, as I have long said, need not be dull — and BUILD proves it can be both industrious and electrifying.

Your obedient servant,
B. Franklin

BUILD, by Beyoncé

Let’s be real — this program?

It’s flawless.

The BUILD Program doesn’t just train students — it empowers them. You walk in with a syllabus. You walk out knowing how to lead a team, pitch a product, debug a circuit, and fight for your vision.

You’re not just building a robot — you’re building yourself. Every mistake? Every group argument? Every test that fails? That’s the fire you’re forged in. That’s where greatness starts.

Because when you know how to collaborate, iterate, and deliver something real — not a paper, but a product — that’s not just school. That’s power.

So go ahead.

Get in the lab.

Lead that team.

Break something, fix it better, and let the world know:

You didn’t come to play.

You came to BUILD.

— Beyoncé

BUILD, by Bob Ross

Hey there, friend.

You know, sometimes people are afraid to make mistakes. But in the BUILD Program, mistakes are just happy little prototypes.

This program lets students take an idea — even a tiny little sketch of an idea — and turn it into something real. They work with teammates, pick up new tools, try something out, and when it doesn’t quite work, that’s okay! That just means there’s more room for creativity.

Maybe your box doesn’t fit your circuit. That’s okay — just slide it over here, make a tweak, and look at that — it fits now. Just beautiful.

Every student gets to add their own brushstroke to the project.
By the end, they’re not just building machines.
They’re painting a picture of what they’re capable of.

And I think that’s just lovely.

— Bob Ross

BUILD, by Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Engineering is not merely solving problems. It is boldly engaging the unknown with courage, reason, and imagination.

The BUILD Program represents the finest spirit of the Federation: a place where diverse minds come together to build the future — literally.

Students are not merely passive recipients of knowledge. They are explorers. Problem-solvers. Team members. Leaders.

They are taught not only the what, but the why. Not only the design, but the ethics of design. And when their circuits fail or their prototypes collapse — they respond not with defeat, but with determination.

It is, in every sense, a voyage of discovery.

And I would be proud to welcome any BUILD graduate aboard the Enterprise.

Engage.
— Jean-Luc Picard

BUILD, through the eyes of Carl Sagan

Somewhere, in a well-lit lab filled with the whirr of motors and the hum of ideas, students are learning to shape the universe with their minds and their hands.

The BUILD Program is a kind of cosmic experiment — one where theoretical physics meets the click of a ratchet wrench, where curiosity is soldered to circuitry, and where the pale blue glow of a prototype screen represents the first flicker of discovery.

It’s easy to forget, in a world so filled with technology, that each advance — each tool, each component — had to be imagined, engineered, and tested by real human beings. In BUILD, students reenact that sacred process. They dream. They fail. They try again. They learn.

In that process, they come to understand something profound: that the act of engineering is not separate from science — it is a way of loving it.

We are all made of star-stuff, yes. But in BUILD, we also learn how to bolt that star-stuff to a chassis and make it move.

With awe and curiosity,
Carl Sagan

BUILD, by Cleopatra

When I ruled, I surrounded myself with brilliance: scholars, architects, mathematicians. They designed wonders not with magic, but with intellect — and I commanded it.

Today, the BUILD Program does the same — though with less gold and fewer obelisks.

These students? They don’t beg for permission. They provoke excellence. They design, they argue, they collaborate — across disciplines and across egos. They are not content to recite knowledge. They wield it.

And like all true builders, they understand something I learned long ago:
Power is not given. It is engineered.

Let them build empires — one circuit board at a time.

— Cleopatra VII Philopator

BUILD, by Confucius

To know, and not to do — is not to know.

The BUILD Program understands this wisdom. It is not enough to read. It is not enough to recite. One must practice.

In BUILD, the student becomes the craftsman. They touch the material. They work in harmony with others. They make errors. They reflect.

Through shared effort, through guided failure, through persistence — the young mind becomes wise. Not only in tools, but in character.

For what is engineering, if not the way of bringing order to complexity?

Study deeply. Build honestly. Improve the world.

— Confucius

BUILD, by Darth Vader

I find your lack of hands-on education... disturbing.

In the galaxy of academic programs, many rely on lectures and theory. They teach students to recite formulas, not wield them. They teach them to follow instructions, not command outcomes.

But the BUILD Program... is different.

It forges engineers through trial. Through fire. Through design reviews so intense, even a Sith would sweat. Students collaborate. They argue. They fail. And in failing, they become powerful.

They do not fear iteration. They embrace it.
They do not wait for instruction. They lead the solution.

The Force is strong in this curriculum.
But remember:
Only those who BUILD… will rise.

— Darth Vader

BUILD, by Dolly Parton

Well sugar, let me tell you — the BUILD Program is what you get when hard work, big dreams, and good ol’ fashioned brainpower all pull up to the same workbench.

These students don’t just sit in class and take notes — no ma’am. They roll up their sleeves, grab a wrench, and start making magic. Whether it’s robots or circuit boards, they’re building real things that solve real problems.

And let me tell you something else: they don’t give up just ’cause it’s hard. They mess up. They fix it. They laugh. They learn. They make it better. Then they show it off like it’s a sparkly new stage outfit, and honey, they’ve earned that spotlight.

What I love most about BUILD is that it don’t care where you come from — just what you’re willing to build. It gives you a team, a purpose, and a whole lot of confidence that says:
“You can do this, darlin’. You already are.”

So if you’re wondering whether this program is right for you, let me put it plain:
If you’ve got a dream and you’re not afraid to work for it — well, BUILD is your kind of stage.

Keep on dreamin’ and buildin’,
— Dolly Parton

BUILD, by Dr. Seuss

Oh the things you will build, and the sparks you will fly,
When you’re soldering circuits with glue in your eye!

You’ll join a great team full of thinkers and makers—
Designers, debuggers, and coffee partakers!

You’ll build things that bounce! You’ll build things that beep!
You’ll test them and break them and try not to weep.

You’ll sit through design reviews—scary but fair.
With people who care and will challenge you there.

There’s no magic manual, no “just push this knob.”
In BUILD, you do the thinking. That’s your real job.

And you’ll learn what to do when your project’s all smoke—
You’ll learn how to fix it and still crack a joke.

So take up your pliers, your CAD, and your will—
The BUILD path is tricky, but boy, what a thrill!

— Dr. Seuss

BUILD, by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a semester dreary,
While I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious tome of engineering lore—
There appeared, with voice commanding,
A strange new method, not so bland and—
BUILD, they called it—hands-on learning—failure we no longer abhor.

No more lectures, bleak, resounding,
BUILD had students prototyping.
And when their circuits sparked and smoked, they did not scream, they did not flee—
But stood, resolved, tools in hand,
Facing chaos, proud and grand,
Saying, “Nevermore shall learning be divorced from reality.”

Each review a grave confession,
Each revision, an obsession—
Yet through each mistake, each stumble, rose a clearer, brighter lore.
And in the end, amidst the moaning
Of a printer, quietly groaning—
Was a student—fully ready—standing taller than before.

— Edgar A. Poe

BUILD, as imagined by Eleanor Roosevelt

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their design reviews.

Education has long been one of our nation’s greatest tools — but it is not enough to simply fill minds with facts. We must equip young people to build, to question, to create — and above all, to collaborate. That is the strength of the BUILD Program.

In BUILD, students are not passive observers. They are participants in the great democratic experiment of engineering — working in teams, debating tradeoffs, and taking action. They learn that failure is not the end, but the beginning of growth. They learn to listen, adapt, and try again — not because it is easy, but because it is worth it.

This is not only technical education. It is character education. And if we wish to rebuild our communities, our industries, and our sense of shared purpose — it will begin in programs like this, where future leaders are not only taught to build machines, but to build one another up.

With enduring faith in progress,
Eleanor Roosevelt

BUILD, by Elon Musk

Look — if you're just reading textbooks and memorizing equations, you're doing it wrong.

The BUILD Program gets it right.

It's not about regurgitating the solution — it's about engineering reality. BUILD drops students into real-world scenarios, gives them a rough spec, and says: “Go. Build something that works.”

They don't just learn theory — they manufacture understanding.
They test. They fail. They launch again.
Sounds familiar, right?

You want to land rockets?
First, build the confidence to be wrong — then the skill to fix it.

BUILD is a breeding ground for future engineers, yes — but also for founders. For problem solvers. For people who refuse to wait for the world to change and just start changing it themselves.

Ten out of ten. Would invest.

— Elon Musk

BUILD, by Frida Kahlo

I never painted dreams. I painted my reality.

And the BUILD Program? It is not a dream of engineering — it is its reality. It is raw. It is frustrating. It is beautiful. Like all creation.

These students do not follow instructions. They invent paths. They argue over dimensions, spill solder on their sleeves, and leave class with fingers stained by effort and eyes lit by discovery.

They make mistakes. They learn. They fight. They try again.
That is not engineering. That is life.

BUILD does not just teach students to make things.
It teaches them to make meaning.

— Frida

BUILD, by Gandalf the Grey

All we have to decide is what to do with the knowledge that is given to us.

In the halls of the BUILD Program, I see not just students — but apprentices of invention. They gather, not to memorize spells — but to conjure designs from thought, forge them with discipline, and test them in the fires of failure.

BUILD teaches them the ancient wisdom: that no great feat is achieved alone. That the journey is full of trial and revision. That true engineering is less about wands and more about wrenches, wires, and will.

And when they emerge — calloused, tired, but triumphant — they will not simply understand engineering. They will have lived it.

Fly, you builders.

— Gandalf

BUILD, by Isaac Asimov

The most exciting phrase to hear in science is not “Eureka!” but “Huh… that’s odd.”

And in the BUILD Program, odd is where the learning begins.

Students here do not wait to be told the answer. They prototype. They collaborate. They test hypotheses, test their circuits, and test their patience — often all at once. It is not neat. It is not tidy. It is, in short, the scientific method with caffeine and soldering smoke.

They learn how to communicate across disciplines — mechanical, electrical, software, and occasionally philosophical. They discover that intelligence is not measured in correctness, but in iteration.

BUILD is not preparing students for the world of yesterday.
It is building the minds that will design the world of tomorrow.

And maybe — just maybe — they’ll figure out how to keep the power supply from overheating.

— Isaac Asimov

BUILD, by Sir Isaac Newton

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants — and perhaps by tightening a few bolts.

In my day, I toiled alone with quill and calculus, describing the mysteries of the universe. Were I born in this time, I suspect I’d be toiling in the BUILD lab, elbow-deep in circuitry and marveling at the intricacy of a servo motor.

BUILD students are not content with abstract truths. They demand application. They convert theory into mechanism. They challenge nature not with parchment, but with prototypes.

They drop objects not just to measure gravity, but to calibrate a sensor. They study motion not merely in formulae, but in the flight path of a drone.

What once was a solitary endeavor has become a collaborative revolution. It is the age of applied thought.

In BUILD, students do not wait for apples to fall.
They engineer the tree.

— Isaac Newton

BUILD à la Julia Child

Bon appétit, future engineers!

Now, I want you to imagine something fabulous: a classroom that’s not a classroom at all, but a delicious workshop where eager young minds sauté ideas, flambé failures, and whip up innovation with a dash of grit and a hearty spoonful of elbow grease. Welcome to the BUILD Program!

Just like in the kitchen, we don’t hand you a finished soufflé. Oh no no no! We give you the eggs, the flour, and a mysterious unlabeled device with twelve buttons and absolutely no instructions. Voilà! That’s your first engineering challenge.

You’ll learn to stir theory into practice, fold in a little CAD modeling, beat the mechanical tolerances until smooth, and never — never! — be afraid to fail. Because in BUILD, just like in cooking, your first prototype may fall flat, but by the fourth version it’s rising beautifully.

You’ll be part of a multidisciplinary recipe — mechanicals, electricals, coders, and the occasional rogue physicist — all blending their skills like ingredients in a good stew. There will be testing. There will be revisions. And there will be triumphant shouting when it finally works!

BUILD is not just an education — it’s a banquet of engineering delight. Just remember: clean as you go, measure twice, and never serve a design before it's been properly debugged!

With joy and gears,
Julia Child

BUILD, as envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci

To design is to dream with discipline.

In my time, I sketched wings and gears, but lacked the materials and means to build them. How I would have envied these BUILD students, who not only draw their visions but construct them — who wield the tools of creation as surely as the brush, the compass, or the chisel.

Here, the mind does not merely observe. It acts. One hand measures, the other turns a wrench. One student calculates force; another bends metal. Together they test, and fail, and test again.

And lo! They do not simply build machines — they build understanding. They debate, they revise, they present to their peers and to their elders. They learn the art of invention, which is not magic, but method.

Had I such a laboratory, with copper wire and aluminum frames and a mentor who walked beside me — I daresay I would have flown not just in dreams, but in daylight.

Let us praise such an atelier of the modern world. It is not a classroom — it is a renaissance.

Leonardo

BUILD, by Marie Curie

The pursuit of knowledge is beautiful. But knowledge, alone, is not enough.

In BUILD, students go beyond curiosity. They test it. They break it. They build it again. They do not only ask what is true — they ask what works, and how can we improve it?

I see young scientists and engineers here who no longer fear the unknown. They welcome it. They hold it in their hands, like I once held pitchblende — unrefined, mysterious, radiant with possibility.

They work in teams. They disagree. They persist. And most beautifully, they learn that to be precise, to be careful, to be patient — is not weakness. It is the strength of science.

In BUILD, we do not merely teach students to pass exams. We prepare them to light the world.

Mme. Curie

BUILD, by Marie Kondo

Does your education spark joy?

If not, allow me to introduce you to the BUILD Program. A beautifully organized space where every component, every cable, every iteration serves a purpose. Where chaos is not feared — it is sorted.

Students begin with a clutter of ideas. But through BUILD, they tidy their thinking. They discard what no longer serves the design. They fold their prototypes gently, store their files mindfully, and eventually hold up a finished project and say, “Yes. This sparks joy.”

And testing? Ah. Testing is the KonMari moment of engineering.
Does your device do what it promised to do?
If not, thank it for the lesson — and begin again.

The BUILD Program teaches more than engineering.
It teaches intention.

— Marie Kondo

A Curious Contraption Called “BUILD”
By Mark Twain (allegedly)

Now, I’ve seen a great many inventions in my time — some fine, some foolish, and a good portion of them both — but none quite like this peculiar educational engine they call the BUILD Program.

It takes a young man or woman, full of high notions and theories plucked from thick books, and sets them loose with screwdrivers and circuit boards to discover that nature is not impressed with their diploma. She demands results, and BUILD, bless its heart, aims to oblige.

Here, students don’t merely learn about the wheel — they’re handed a pile of parts and told, “Go on then, build the contraption — and mind it rolls straight.” If it wobbles or flops, so much the better. Failure is not a sin here, but a fine instructor with a firm paddle.

The students holler across the lab, arguing over tolerances and torque like steamboat engineers on the Mississippi. Professors, no longer perched high on lecture podiums, descend among the crew like old river captains — scarred, seasoned, and suspicious of anything that works the first time.

And the whole thing, mind you, is done with the air of a frontier barn-raising. They measure, cut, wire, bolt, solder, test — then tear it all apart and do it again, because it turns out a good prototype is a lot like a good sausage: best not examined too closely until it’s done.

BUILD doesn’t just make engineers — it makes real ones. The kind that can build bridges, fix coffee makers, and survive a meeting with both marketing and manufacturing without swearing out loud.

If I had such a program in my day, I might’ve built something besides tall tales. Or at least built them sturdier.

Yours in awe and amusement,
Mark Twain
(as imagined with a soldering iron in one hand and a quip in the other)

BUILD, by Maya Angelou

You may not control all the components in your project.
But you can wire them with purpose.

The BUILD Program is not just a classroom — it is a stage, a chorus, a foundry of becoming. Here, young people don’t wait to be called engineers — they rise into it. With hands in the toolbox and hearts in the work, they build not just machines, but identity.

They learn that failure is not shameful — it is sacred. They learn that teams are not burdens — they are bridges. They learn that a design review is not a judgment — it is an invitation to grow.

And when they walk out into the world, they do not walk alone. They carry the rhythm of what they’ve built — the knowledge, the confidence, the resilience — and they share it.

Because when you know how to build something with your hands,
You start to believe you can build anything — even a better world.

And still they rise.
— Maya Angelou

BUILD, from your neighbor Mr. Rogers

Hello, neighbor.

You know, when I was young, I used to wonder how things worked. Radios, clocks, even the toaster. I’d look at all the buttons and knobs and think, someone had to figure that out.

The BUILD Program is a special kind of neighborhood — one where people come together to figure things out together. They listen to each other. They try new ideas. Sometimes they make mistakes, and that’s okay — because every good engineer I’ve met learned more from a broken part than a perfect one.

In BUILD, students learn how to build things, yes — but they also learn how to build kindness, confidence, and community. And that might be the most important thing of all.

Because when you help someone else with their project, or learn to ask good questions, or work through a tough problem together — you’re building something even bigger than a machine. You’re building yourself.

And I think that’s wonderful.

With love,
Mr. Rogers

BUILD, by Mr. T

Listen up, fool!

You wanna be an engineer? You wanna design cool stuff, fix things that break, and build gadgets that actually work?

Then you better quit whining and sign up for the BUILD Program.

This ain’t no sit-in-your-chair-and-memorize-theory class. Nah. BUILD puts tools in your hand, sweat on your brow, and teammates at your side. You’re gonna build it, break it, fix it, and do it again! That’s how you learn. That’s how you grow. That’s how you get tough.

I pity the fool who thinks they can just read their way to being a great engineer. Real knowledge? That comes from doing the work.

You finish BUILD, and I guarantee you’ll walk into your job like,
“I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

Respect. Grit. Hands-on hustle. That’s BUILD, baby.

— Mr. T

BUILD, by Muhammad Ali

Float like a circuit, sting like a schematic.

The BUILD Program? Oh, it ain’t no ordinary class. It’s a ring. You walk in thinking you know something. And then it hits you — real problems, real teams, real tools in your hand. That’s the first round.

You’re not just hitting the books — you’re dodging design flaws, jabbing at deadlines, dancing through team meetings, and learning how to take the hit when your prototype fails.

But you don’t quit. No sir. You get back up. You rebuild. You iterate.
And that’s when you realize — you’re not just building machines.
You’re building the champion inside.

‘Cause when you graduate from BUILD?
You don’t hope you’re ready for the world.
You know you are.

I shook up the world.
Now it’s your turn.

— Muhammad Ali

BUILD, according to Nikola Tesla

The future is not a thunderclap. It is a current — invisible, constant, humming with possibility.

The modern student is taught with books, with formulae, with lectures that speak about the machine, but never let the student hear its voice. The BUILD Program, in contrast, places the tools directly in their hands, and says: “Now, listen.”

They wire circuits. They shape enclosures. They test signals and adjust tolerances. They discover that electricity is not simply a concept — it is a conversation between materials, mathematics, and the mind.

And most importantly: they learn the humility of invention. The first prototype will be flawed. The second, only slightly less so. But in this cycle of failure and refinement lies the essence of true creation. It is no accident that lightning comes after the storm builds.

In BUILD, we do not fear failure. We harness it.
And from it, we illuminate the world.

Yours in voltage and vision,
Nikola Tesla

BUILD, by Oprah Winfrey

Let me tell you something about the BUILD Program.

It changes lives.

These students walk into the room thinking they’re signing up for a class — and they walk out with purpose. With confidence. With clarity.

Because BUILD doesn’t just hand you knowledge — it hands you power. The power to design. To collaborate. To problem-solve. To lead. It teaches you what it feels like to build something real — and when you do that once, you realize: you can build anything.

And here’s the best part:
They don’t do it alone.
They do it together.

That’s what BUILD is.
A community. A challenge. A launching pad.

And if you’re in that lab?
You. Are. Ready.

— Oprah

BUILD, by Oscar Wilde

It is a truth universally overlooked that nothing so perfectly ruins an outfit as an engineering degree without taste.

Enter the BUILD Program: a laboratory of learning where the circuits hum, the ideas clash magnificently, and the students finally discover that fashion and function may coexist — provided you’re wearing safety goggles.

In BUILD, failure is not failure at all. It is character development. It is plot twist. It is the moment the dashing prototype winks at you, sparks, and promptly collapses into your latte.

These students do not learn by reading dull tomes under bad lighting. They learn by doing, by arguing with teammates, by invoking the sacred power of the Dremel tool, and — occasionally — by rewiring their egos.

BUILD doesn’t simply educate. It entertains.

And remember, darling:
If you must suffer for your art, let it be in a workshop that teaches you why your LED won’t turn on.

— Oscar Wilde

BUILD, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Real change, enduring change, happens step by step — or in this case, iteration by iteration.

The BUILD Program is not just about engineering. It is about equity. It is about giving students the tools — both literal and intellectual — to build their future, regardless of where they start.

In traditional programs, some students are left behind — those who didn’t grow up with a garage full of tools or mentors in the field. BUILD rewrites that script. It provides the access, the practice, and the community that levels the playing field.

And here’s the truth: when students work together across disciplines, when they test and fail and test again, when they are given the dignity of real work — they don’t just graduate. They transform.

The BUILD Program produces engineers who know how to design circuits — and how to defend their designs in a room full of critics. Engineers who don’t just follow specs — they challenge them when those specs exclude.

This is how you change engineering.
Not with slogans, but with practice and principle.

— RBG

Shakespeare meets Feynman: A Crossover Soliloquy on BUILD

[Enter SHAKESPEARE, quill in hand, pacing beside a laser cutter]

SHAKESPEARE:
To build, or not to build—that is the query.
Whether ‘tis nobler in the lab to suffer
The faults and bugs of outrageous circuits,
Or to take tools against a sea of errors
And, by iterating, end them?

[Enter FEYNMAN, wiping his hands on a rag, gesturing to a whiteboard covered in doodles]

FEYNMAN:
Look, if it wiggles when it shouldn't, or doesn’t when it should—
Congratulations. You’ve found reality.
Now figure out why.
That’s science. That’s engineering. That’s the fun part.

SHAKESPEARE:
Oh, sweet Feynman, thy wit is sharp as voltage spike!
What doth BUILD teach, but wisdom through mistake?

FEYNMAN:
Exactly, my poetic pal.
These students don’t just sit and absorb. They test.
They tinker. They argue. They get it wrong.
And in getting it wrong, they get it right.

SHAKESPEARE:
Then BUILD is but a stage, and all the students merely players—
Each with resistors, each with code,
Each cursed with projects overdue and dreams most bold.

FEYNMAN:
And what a show it is.

[They nod, turn toward the prototype, and hit “power.” Sparks fly. Fade to applause.]

— Bill & Dick Present: “Much Ado About Ohms”

BUILD, as explained by Spock

Observation: The BUILD Program is a logical response to the inefficiencies of traditional engineering education.

Standard curricula emphasize theoretical instruction without sufficient regard for practical application. BUILD corrects this deficiency by immersing students in multidisciplinary, hands-on environments from the onset.

Students not only understand how systems function — they design, construct, and refine them. They work in diverse teams. They encounter and overcome failure. In so doing, they acquire not only technical skill, but emotional resilience and interpersonal fluency — attributes which are, I must admit, quite useful.

Conclusion: BUILD produces engineers who are not only competent, but ready. It is, in human terms, “a game-changer.”

Recommendation: Highly logical. Fully endorse.

— Spock, Science Officer, USS Enterprise

BUILD, as envisioned by Steve Jobs

People think innovation is magic. It’s not. It’s messy. It’s the part of the process you don’t see — the prototyping, the rewiring, the nights where nothing works and the mornings where everything clicks. That’s what makes the BUILD Program so powerful.

In traditional engineering education, students are taught what to think. BUILD teaches them how to create. And not just to create — but to iterate, to collaborate, and to fail beautifully.

This isn’t a simulation. BUILD puts real tools in your hands, real problems on your desk, and real people beside you — mechanical engineers, coders, designers — working together to build something that didn’t exist yesterday.

The program doesn’t give you a blueprint. It gives you purpose.

If I had to summarize BUILD in one sentence, it would be this:
“It’s where students stop studying the future — and start building it.”

Stay hungry. Stay hands-on.
Steve

BUILD, by Thomas Edison

I never much cared for theory without practice. You can have all the equations in the world, but until you put your hands on a wire and get a little shocked, you don’t really know electricity.

That’s why I admire the BUILD Program.

These students? They don’t just talk about inventions — they build them. They run into dead ends, sparks, smoke, and delays. Good! That’s where the real learning is. I learned ten thousand ways not to make a light bulb. These students learn twenty ways not to design a chassis. Then they redesign it. Stronger.

It’s not easy. But I never hired anyone who was afraid to sweat or solder.

BUILD is what school should be. Less memorizing. More making. Less “show your work.” More “show me the prototype.”

And if you’re lucky, it even works on the third try.

— Tom Edison

Debugging Prototypes in the Lab by Tom Lehrer

Here’s a Tom Lehrer-style parody of “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”, reimagined as: “Debugging Prototypes in the Lab”

(To the tune of “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”)

Spring is here, the semester is new,
The whiteboards are fresh and the motors are too,
We’re designing with joy, like a caffeinated mob—
Debugging prototypes in the lab.

We brainstorm with fervor, our circuits are bright,
‘Til one lets out smoke in the middle of the night,
But we’ll solder again—what a marvelous job!
Debugging prototypes in the lab.

Students may ask, "What’s the function?" or “Why?”
We point to the scope as it catches on fire.
Marketing’s mad, and the client’s confused,
But the chassis is shiny and tightly fused!

Oh we’re BUILDing with style, and occasional dread,
The code is unstable, the firmware is dead,
But we’re learning like mad, which is really the fab—
Debugging prototypes in the lab!

(instrumental break, ideally with kazoo and soldering iron percussion)

Our first PCB had a trace that was shorted,
The enclosure was stylish, but backward and thwarted.
We showed it with pride—marketing screamed—
“This looks like a toaster that’s halfway redeemed!”

Oh we test and revise, then present with some flair,
We wave at the sponsor, who silently stares.
But we love every fail, every weird-looking blob—
Debugging prototypes…
(modulation)
Refining prototypes…
Inventing like lunatics—THAT'S our job!
In the laaaaaaaab! ?

BUILD, by Tony Stark

Okay, look. You can ace your thermodynamics final and still fry a board the second you plug in the power. You know what stops that?

The BUILD Program.

These students aren’t just studying engineering — they’re living it. Multidisciplinary teams, rapid prototyping, design reviews, painful (and hilarious) failures… it’s everything I love. And by “love” I mean: endured, survived, and now kind of miss.

They build a thing. It breaks. They fix it. Then it works. Then marketing hates it. Then they fix it again.
Sound familiar? That’s real life. That’s engineering.

Honestly, if BUILD had existed when I was in school?
I’d still have blown up my dorm room. But at least it would’ve been on purpose.

— Tony Stark (Genius, Billionaire, etc.)

BUILD, as if by William Shakespeare

O for a wrench, a vise, a circuit fair!
To grasp the workings 'neath thy plastic shell;
Where BUILD's brave youths do labor 'gainst despair,
And raise new dreams where older systems fell.

Attend this tale of modern forge and flame,
Where freshmen enter, bookish, meek, and green.
They leave as builders, proud to bear the name
Of engineer — bold, brilliant, and serene.

In lecture halls they once did drowse and note,
But now in labs they wire and weld and test.
They build machines! They tune a power boat!
They learn from flaws, and turn them into best.

The product life, they see it end to end —
From napkin sketch to tool-encumbered floor.
They make a box, a bolt, a friend —
And find that failure opens every door.

So hail the BUILD! A noble stage, I vow —
Where minds are tempered — like a circuit — now.

— W. Shakespeare, Modernized for Engineers

BUILD, by Winston Churchill

To build, or to surrender to PowerPoint — that is the question.

Let it be known: in the long, dry trenches of theoretical engineering education, a new front has opened. It is called the BUILD Program, and it is not for the faint of heart.

Here, students fight for their ideas. They design under fire, solder under pressure, and debug in the heat of battle. Their weapons? Logic. Grit. And a Phillips head screwdriver.

In my day, we spoke of blood, toil, tears, and sweat. In BUILD, it is prototypes, pivots, reworks, and solder burns. But they endure. And in that endurance, they learn not merely how to build a device — but how to build themselves.

We shall BUILD in the labs, we shall BUILD in the field,
we shall BUILD in the conference room and the machine shop,
we shall never surrender... to bad design.

— Sir Winston Churchill

BUILD, by Master Yoda

Design… or do not. There is no try.

In BUILD, much to learn, students have. Yes. Books, they read. Equations, they master. But more… they must build.

Hands-on, the path is. Feel the machine you must. Understand the why, not just the what. Fail? Hmph. Fail you will. But learn from it? Yes. Grow from it? Absolutely.

In teams they work. Mechanical. Electrical. Software. Marketing. Many disciplines. One mission. Harmony in chaos, they find.

Argue, they do. Redesign, they must. Success… not quick. But earned, it is. And wise they become.

When students leave BUILD, ready they are. Not with fear, but with fire. Not just knowledge… but wisdom.

Strong in the Force of Engineering, they are.

— Yoda