The Steve and Kathy McShane STEM Innovation Center has yet to open at De La Salle officially. However, it is already making an impact on Pilot students.

Just ask senior Gabriel Enghauser, whose career aspirations are anything but ordinary. 

This summer, Enghauser was one of just over 100 students across the nation selected to attend the Rice University Aerospace Academy, where he spent nearly two weeks immersed in lectures on orbital mechanics and physics. As part of this program, he also collaborated with fellow high-achieving students and had the opportunity to meet astronauts and scientists. 

“It was an amazing experience,” Enghauser said of attending the summer program. “I met a lot of people, and learned a lot... It was very intuitive and very fun.”

Presently, Enghauser is busy researching for his capstone project, which entails developing a drone that detects and helps prevent forest fires. If everything goes according to plan, this drone will be capable of distinguishing between legitimate threats for forest fires and non-threats, such as bonfires. Enghauser is working on this project along with three other high school seniors from Maryland, Washington, and Iowa, and an incoming freshman college student from Massachusetts. 

“The goal is to prevent, slow down, and even completely stop forest fires from ever happening in a given area,” he explained.

Many of the resources Enghauser will need to complete his capstone project will come from De La Salle’s aforementioned state-of-the-art STEM Center. The cutting-edge facility, funded in large part by Steve McShane, ‘61, and his wife, Kathy, is aptly named the Steve and Kathy McShane STEM Innovation Center in their honor. It is located in the space formerly occupied by the TARMAC, and will be open in time for the start of the 2025-26 school year.

“Whereas most students would research online and go to the library to get a book and read, we actually have these hands-on experiences and classes that can teach us skills that we otherwise wouldn't be able to obtain,” Enghauser said of the advantage of having access to the aforementioned science and technological hub at DLS. “That's pretty much what the STEM Center is about. You can develop these skills that you wouldn't be able to garner anywhere except here.”

In this manner, the STEM Center will provide Enghauser and the other members of his capstone group project with a leg up on the competition. 

“The one place we can consolidate and do all this work that we want to achieve is our own STEM Center,” Enghauser said. “So, that's having access to a Makerspace 24/7, that's having access to all these digital, electronic tools, and all these other electrical engineering and computer science tools that nobody else would usually have at the high school level. That's what makes this STEM Center so special.”

Enghauser views the STEM Center as a difference-maker, and not just for his own academic journey but for the entire DLS student body. He hopes it will “inspire” other students to also get involved in the school's highly advanced STEM program. 

“I believe this STEM Center will not only inspire current STEM students to aim higher and achieve their goals, but also individuals who may not know yet that they have a knack for STEM,” the high-achieving senior expressed. “So, it kind of creates that vision that they can build off. So, let's say someone is unsure or takes a science class in here just to meet a course requirement, and then all of a sudden they become inspired and have all these visions of ‘Oh, I can do this, I can do that in the future.’ That's really where the inspiration comes into play.”

For a student whose aspirations include double-majoring in aerospace and biomedical engineering, earning PhDs in both, and ultimately becoming an astronaut, the resources at De La Salle have been and will continue to be pivotal. 

The Anatomage® Table, recently acquired by the school, is a perfect example of that. The one-of-a-kind, high-tech table will allow Enghauser and his peers to closely study the anatomy of the human body and dissect numerous organs in the body, including the heart and lungs. This piece of equipment, which functions as a full digital cadaver, is set to transform the all-boys, college preparatory school into a leader in biomedical education. Additionally, it will greatly enhance student readiness for careers in both the medical and health care industries. 

Enghauser believes the table and the building it is housed in – the STEM Center – will significantly aid DLS in its efforts to continue to recruit the brightest and best students.

“Because of these advancements in facilities and science and technology, we now have an advanced STEM program at DLS,” Enghauser expressed. “Eventually, the Rocketry and Robotics programs will utilize the STEM Center as much as possible. But, in terms of admissions for the school, this will be one of the biggest selling points because now we have all this focus on STEM, on research, and opportunities that other schools just don't have.”

Enghauser's career vision is ultra ambitious: to design rockets and help create sustainable living environments for humans in space. And he's setting his sights on top-tier academic institutions to get there – MIT and Georgia Tech top his college wish list, followed by Stanford University, the University of Michigan, Caltech (the California Institute of Technology), Rice University, and more.

Before he decides where to attend college, though, he has many more exciting opportunities to pursue, including going to space camp later this summer. The camp, which is scheduled to take place in Huntsville, Ala., will feature a variety of hands-on learning experiences, including astronaut training, simulated shuttle missions, and zero-gravity exercises. 

As De La Salle continues to grow its Rocketry and Robotics Clubs, the STEM Center will undoubtedly be a hub for innovation, creativity, and academic rigor. Enghauser is well aware of it, and knows that the recent advancements made to the school's STEM program would not have been possible without the immense support of the McShanes and the school's tremendous alumni base.

“Without Steve and Kathy McShane and their generous support, we would not have the STEM Center that we're sitting in today. I'm eternally grateful for their support and the support of all those who have helped make this state-of-the-art facility come to life,” Enghauser said. “It's a huge difference-maker for me and my classmates, and it will be for future generations of Pilot students as well.”