Protecting students and teachers from intrusion and attacks is on everyone’s mind. The NECA Student Chapter at California State University Long Beach decided to address the problem head on with a project designed to find ways to safeguard students from mass attacks at their schools.
ELECTRI International recently spoke with CSU team member, Majid Shojaei, to learn more about this winning Student Passport proposal and how it came about.
According to Majid, there are several isolated emergency systems that have not yet been combined into one system for schools to install. The Student Passport team plans to develop an electrical locking system that will be installed on each classroom and office door of an elementary school. “We wanted to find a way to minimize killings by limiting or eliminating access to the buildings and classrooms.”
Once CSU Long Beach faculty member, Dr. Tariq Shehab, told his class about the competition, the team had a limited amount of time to research the best approach. “We recognized the importance of this initiative and we were confident we had a very good shot at winning.”
The plan is to create a comprehensive system to monitor and detect unusual high frequency sounds. When the device detects a very high frequency sound such as a gunshot, the emergency locking system is triggered throughout the entire school. A signal is sent to all installed devices and locks down all classrooms from entry, except for first responders.
Majid continued to expand on the team’s approach. “We believe developing the right software is the most practical approach. Our team’s goal is to have a fully working system as soon as possible. We will install a test lockdown system in a building on our campus and then finalize the selection of a nearby elementary school for an installation. Overall, our goal is to make the system available across the country.”
ELECTRI asked Majid for his reaction to being part of the competition finals for the first time. “All four of our team members worked hard and smart. We were excited to present something we really believe can make a change to the way we protect students. We were warmly received by the ELECTRI Council. We definitely appreciated the opportunity to learn and to network with so many electrical contractors.”