Jackrabbit in the Spotlight: Grant Sternhagen

How can marching band members learn the band's formations and their own individual movements more easily?

This was the basic question that Grant Sternhagen, a junior in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, asked. The answer has led to a long-term development project that could allow marching band members to learn their spots and moves on a field by following along on their phones through an inexpensive app. 

And Sternhagen’s proclivity to be a change-maker has only grown at SDSU, where he serves in student organizations and activities, volunteers for college events, and even lobbies SDSU and state officials for change on campus.

Sternhagen, a Brookings native, was inspired to develop his marching band app while playing the French horn for the Brookings High School Marching Band. The formations, Sternhagen said, were complex and both challenging and time-consuming to learn as a group. If members could practice on their own, or even see the formations visually, it might make things easier, he thought.

The idea for the project continued through the years until Sternhagen enrolled at SDSU in 2021. While pursuing his degree, he met with attorneys to understand any patent challenges and has utilized the coding skills he has been learning since middle school to create the cell phone-based application.

While the app is still in development, Sternhagen, a computer science major with a minor in computer engineering, has kept himself plenty busy at SDSU. He is the Lohr College of Engineering's Students' Association representative, a position he has held since being named an at-large member his freshman year.

"I enjoy being a part of the Students' Association," Sternhagen said. "I am on the Parking and Traffic Committee and the Academic Appeals Committee."

One of the most memorable moments of his career as a student-senator came last winter, when he traveled to Pierre to lobby state legislators for a new supercomputer on campus. Sternhagen said the experience, while intimidating at first, was both enjoyable and eye-opening. He was successful to boot as the legislation ended up passing.

"It was exciting to be out in Pierre with the state legislators," Sternhagen said. "The experience was definitely memorable."

Sternhagen also helped lobby — successfully — for alcohol to be sold at events on campus and wrote a resolution to replace burned-out light bulbs around the University Student Union last year.

"I have also worked with the University Police Department on the Senate Safety and Security Committee on identifying safety risks around the residential halls and flagging them for future work," Sternhagen said.

In the Lohr College, Sternhagen has volunteered his time and helped staff and faculty put on the annual B.E.S.T. Robotics competition. A few years back, the Lohr College needed someone to learn the scoring software and troubleshoot any issues that arise on competition day, and Sternhagen stepped up to the plate, learning all of the intricacies of the software.

"I enjoy helping out, especially out in the community," Sternhagen said.

In the past, Sternhagen has also assisted Todd Letcher, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Lohr College, with code consulting for a robotics project.

"Additionally, I served as a student representative for SDSU's Executive Strategic Planning Committee, where I worked with (SDSU's athletic director) Justin Sell and other university representatives on setting key performance indicators for the university's community engagement," Sternhagen explained. "I also served two years on the Residence Hall Association where we worked getting bike repair stations installed in Mathews Hall as well as restoring or upgrading common areas in dorms across campus."

During the summer months, Sternhagen helps with a number of camps that the Lohr College puts on, including the Dakota Dreams Career Exploration Summer Camp and the Youth Engineering and Technology Career Exploration Program.

"As part of the two camps, I have taught everything from breadboarding circuits to programming Arduino-based robotics to building dye-sensitized solar panels out of blackberry juice, nitric acid, iodine and treated glass slides," Sternhagen said.

Along with all his on-campus activities, Sternhagen has been working at Daktronics, in varying roles, since high school. What started as an apprenticeship program through the U.S. Department of Labor has blossomed into an emerging career on the company’s system development team, his current position.

With a degree from SDSU expected to be in-hand by next spring, Sternhagen hopes he can land a full-time job with Daktronics and continue his career as a professional engineer.