Some students at Fulton Montgomery Community College got to put their engineering skills to the test by designing wind turbines. As our Dayana Perez reports, students hope their experience in the classroom will translate to new technology jobs coming to the area.

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JOHNSTOWN, N.Y.-- It was all about alternative energy at the Intro to Engineering class at Fulton Montgomery Community College. Teams of students designed, researched and built their own wind turbines for their final project this semester. The turbines had to generate at least two volts of electricity in order for them to pass.

"The nice thing about the project is that it includes electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, some aerospace because they have to design the propeller system themselves. So it's kind of a nice blend of all areas they might be interested in," said FMCC Electrical Technology Professor Rich Prestopnik.

Aaron and Chris say their design managed to produce at least four volts of energy.

"We had to take apart transformers and unwind the wire and then wind it back up on here and put the wire together. I mean, that took about at least an hour to wind the wire on the plastic," said student Chris Spakoski.

"We had it in pieces and worked on one part per day, and we took it one day at a time. I'm pleased on how it turned out," said student Aaron Smith.

Professors at the school say the project brings real life experience to the classroom and hopefully the skills learned will help students get an opportunity to work at the highly anticipated AMD microchip plant so many engineers are looking forward to.