At Portal Middle/High School, John Hendrix has been teaching engineering for about five years; just recently he added a metalcasting class using tin for their projects.

Meanwhile, Georgia Southern University (GSU) has been a part of the FEF network of schools since 2019, initially as an affiliated school, now certified. Professor Mingzhi Xu has been serving as the FEF Key Professor from the start and has done a wonderful job of moving the metalcasting program forward.

How did these two programs discover each other? John met Professor Xu at the open house for Georgia Southern’s new engineering building. John’s interest was piqued when he saw the foundry-in-a-box demonstration.

FEF then provided the opportunity for these two programs to work together. Using funds from an FEF grant that GSU received, they provided a foundry-in-a-box to Portal Middle/High School. Xu said, “After seeing the enthusiasm John’s students demonstrated for metalcasting, we started inviting them to our AFS student chapter events on campus. Last year, they were on campus for our cupola pour, where the students made some scratch molds, and that was a lot of fun.” 

Xu and Hendrix believed that participation in the Casting Dreams competition would be a great project to raise more interest among the high school students. Five of Hendrix’s students entered the 2025 competition; Georgia Southern allowed the students to use their facilities. The high schoolers designed their own skillet bottom and the GSU students helped turn them into real skillets. 

One high schooler, Ethan, said what he enjoyed most was learning about casting. “It was good to have the opportunity to learn and create something.” Another student, Talen, added, “My favorite part was the experience of learning new things in the casting world and interesting techniques.”

Portal Middle/High School is not the only school that has received a foundry-in-a-box from Georgia Southern. They have put together several units and distributed them to other regional high schools. The students at GSU participate in other outreach/educational events as well, hosting summer camps, lab tours, and open house events for younger students.  

Several of Hendrix’s students attended the 2025 CastExpo where their Casting Dreams projects were on display. “This allowed my students to experience something I cannot do in the classroom, and they were getting a hands-on experience that not many high schoolers get. Through this competition, they were able to make connections with people at GSU and talk to people in the industry. There are not a lot of contests for high schoolers in engineering and of those that exist, there are few that allow students to show off real life practical skills.”

Thank you to the Georgia Southern students and all of our FEF students for their continued work providing casting opportunities to the younger generation.