The Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno, recently held a competition for college and high school students called the Green Issue Sustainable Crate Design.

The competition, dedicated to ideas that promote a sustainable society, consisted of teams of 1-6 people who developed a way to reuse up to four old train crate carts in a way that would benefit society.

With the help of her dad, Tom, freshman Ashlyn Key managed to capture first place in this competition through her fruitstand design.

“My dad entered me in this competition to design a way to reuse shipping crates,” Ashlyn said. “There are so many of them that they need to find a convenient way to reuse them. So I was driving by a fruit stand one day, and I noticed that it looked like a shack, without a sink or a bathroom.”

Their design consisted of a sink, a bathroom, and storage tank to collect rainwater.

“I worked on the design with my dad, who is an architect,” Ashlyn said. “The project took about 2-3 weeks. The best part about the project was trying to come up with a design. I also wanted to focus on how much the design could benefit other people.”

Ashlyn’s dad received the information about the project from the board of directors for the American Institute of Architects, of which he is a member. According to him, it was a good fit for Ashlyn.

“I wanted to work with Ashlyn on this project because I wanted to mentor her and teach her some skills that I know,” he said. “I think that this project will benefit her in the future because it is something that looks very good on college applications. It will show that she is able to work hard outside of school and still keep her grades up.”

After finishing the project, Ashlyn was invited to attend an awards ceremony where she was recognized for her contribution.

“I was a special guest at this awards dinner which was for all of the students in the college division,” she said. “There were about 100-150 people there so it was kind of nerve-wracking. During the awards, they called me up on stage and gave me a plaque. Some of the college students complimented my design and congratulated me. Mine was the only one that was hand-drawn.”

Ashlyn says that she enjoyed this experience but would not consider architecture as a career.

“I really admire my dad and the work that he does, so I’ve always enjoyed designing and creating different things,” Ashlyn said. “However, I think of it more as a hobby. I don’t think that I would want to do it for a living.”

According to freshman Amy Savage, school and other activities, such as sports, take up most of the extra time she would need to be able to participate in a project like this.

“I was not aware that Ashlyn had even entered this competition,” Savage said. “I think that for Ashlyn, a freshman in high school, to be achieving and receiving recognition for what she has done from a university is very cool. This shows that she has huge potential to design and could possibly become an architect someday if she keeps running with it.”