As part of my first year in the STEEL program, I was honored to be nominated as the team lead for a drop tower design competition. This was a significant milestone for me, as prior to this project, I had not held a formal leadership role. Typically, our teams operated with equal collaboration and peer feedback without designated leaders. This opportunity allowed me to develop essential team management skills, and I believe I performed well in guiding the group.

Out of the nine teams participating, ours was one of the few to deliver a fully conceptualized drop tower design. The challenge was to create a unique ride, so my team chose a bungee system inspired by Dr. Doom’s Fearfall at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. We began by designing the base structure for the ride vehicle, then developed the vehicle itself, followed by crafting the story and theme.

The narrative we created places riders as adventurers who have discovered a great sleeping dragon. Legend says that stealing the dragon’s crown brings untold wealth, so the riders climb the dragon’s scales to seize the crown—but now they must escape before the dragon awakens and reclaims its treasure.

We successfully developed a conceptual ride system that theoretically met ASTM safety standards. However, due to budget constraints, we were unable to fully realize the project in physical form. Despite this, the experience of designing the ride and overcoming various challenges provided me with invaluable insight into how rides evolve from initial concept to tangible reality.