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When seniors in Wheaton High School's engineering academy arrived last fall for the first day of the last engineering class they'd take at the school, they spent most of the time contemplating the answer to one simple question: "I hate it when…"

Finishing that sentence became the basis for a yearlong project in which the students invented and designed a product that would solve their woes, much like a real engineer would.

They presented their final products or prototypes to several of those real engineers last week during Wheaton's engineering capstone project, the last rite of passage for the students.

They used the skills they learned from three years in the academy, from mechanical and electrical engineering to civil and aerospace technology, to develop a new product that would improve the lives of people who use it.

"Engineers are supposed to make life easy for people," said student Oscar Diezconseco, who along with his team designed a portable desk for teachers that moves with teachers from classroom to classroom and carries their supplies.

Students designed the desk because teachers, who move from class to class throughout the day, occasionally leave some materials behind and arrive in classrooms unprepared. As such, there was a lot more to consider than just how to build the desk, said Diezconseco, who in the fall will attend Pennsylvania State University on a full scholarship to study engineering.

The students had to measure the doors at Wheaton High to ensure the desk could fit in and out of all the classrooms. They also had to consider which materials they'd use and how much it would cost.

But the end result was successful, and it gave them a basis to work off of: The students have an electronic portable desk as next on their list to invent.

Student Marvin Padilla and his team took another route, deciding they hate it when they get in trouble for having their phones out during class to send a text message. So, to the delight of students and disgust of teachers, they set out to invent a wireless keyboard that would allow people to send messages without their phone nearby.

While the final product had a few kinks that still needed to be worked out, Padilla said he believes he and his fellow students have stumbled on a marketable device.

"I think teenagers would really want to buy this product," he said.

But Padilla said engineering isn't just about making something people will buy. It's about changing the way they think about the world.

"You can change people's ideas," he said.

Shane Stroup, the head of Wheaton's engineering academy, said having the students take a product all the way from an idea to a tangible model gives them a clearer idea of the engineering design process, which he said is multifaceted.

The students can't just be good at math and science to be successful, Stroup said. They have to learn how to work together in a team, how to deal with failure and how to present their product to fellow engineers and, eventually, the public.

Nerissa Oberlander, an engineer with Lockheed Martin who helped judge the students' work, said she questioned students about how their product would work in the real world.

"It gives them a sense of how the industry will judge their idea," she said.

Despite the inevitable pressure the students were under, she and the other judges said the students are lucky to have an engineering academy at their high school.

After inventing a product, they're way ahead of the game, she said.