January Student of the month: Grayden Tinker

​Written by: Cameron Barnett, Contributing Writer

​Grayden Tinker, senior at Centralia High School(CHS), was awarded January student of the month.

 Mrs. Tonya Dimmit, CHS Guidance Counselor, thought Tinker would be a great candidate for the award due to his efforts and creativity. Principal, Dr. Matt Smith, awarded Tinker for making all the 3D hall passes that have been used around the school. 

Tinker started designing with the 3D printer in October 2022 by making an automatic food dispenser for his hamster project in STEM class. Tinker then went on to make various 3D prints such as sharks and busts of famous people for the wall in science teacher Mrs. Tonya Schmidt’s classroom. Tinker said, “I owe much of this award to Mrs. Schmidt, as she introduced me to her 3D printers. She introduced me to an online program called TinkerCad, which is ironic given my name.” Tinker then mentioned this is how he got the idea to start making the hall passes.

The hall passes were all made specifically for each teacher. For example, the library passes are books, whereas the music passes consist of music notes. Tinker also 3D printed keychains that look like socks for the boys and girls locker rooms. These are also the keys visiting teams use to get into the locker rooms at games.

Tinker was surprised to be given this award and did not expect to get the award for making the hall passes. Tinker has made nine hall passes so far as well as the four lunch room passes. Tinker still has two more passes planned to make. The passes take about 45 minutes to an hour and a half to print, depending on the size they could take longer.  

Not only has Tinker been using the 3D printer at CHS, but he also has a 3D printer at home he has been printing on. Tinker hopes to find a way to use his passion for 3D printing to make a little income while in college.  Tinker plans on attending Rolla S&T in the fall to study Electrical Engineering.

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