Hummingbirds can fly in all directions. So it makes sense that the fluttering pollinators are Isaac Dennett’s favorite birds. The Fort Vancouver High School senior finds himself pulled in different directions too.
Like chemical engineering. Or experimenting with fashion. Or his path into journalism.
Isaac, who lives in Vancouver’s Hazel Dell neighborhood, has observed hummingbirds everywhere from the nearby Ridgefield National Wildlife Conservation Area to the faraway forests of Panama. Driving slowly through the Ridgefield sanctuary with his father when he was little, Isaac remembers sticking his head out of the sun roof to get a closer peek at the birds. “Human design can never be able to match the beauty of birds flying.
They’re a biological marvel,” said Isaac. Isaac’s favorite hummingbird is the Anna’s hummingbird, native to his home state of Washington. To him, the Anna’s hummingbird signifies freedom, and shows how fleeting life is.
“If you’re passionate about something, you should just do it because opportunities are not always going to be there,” Isaac said. So, when the chance to get involved in a high school engineering competition came up, of course he was ready to take it. He was inspired by his chemistry teacher Anne Kizerian and is now drawn towards chemical engineering.
He has twice won the Southwest Washington regional competition, and was second in the state, in 2023 at the National Engineering Design Competition through MESA, an organi.