Fixing, painting and figuring out how to best refurbish antique tractors is the focus of Iowa State’s Antique Tractor Club.
The club meets Mondays and Thursdays in Sukup Hall, and repairs one antique tractor per year. Club president Kendric Langreck, a junior studying agricultural systems technology, joined to get hands-on experience outside of class.
“After sitting behind a desk for six to eight hours a day, it’s nice to actually come do something that’s not with a pen and paper,” Langreck said.
Despite being a prominent agriculture school, Iowa State is often far from many students’ family farms, where they are used to tinkering around the farm as a way of relaxing after a long day.
“I live a few hours away from home, and I do miss it,” Langreck said. “So this is kind of my way to cut loose on Mondays and Thursdays at night after school.”
The club is less of an obligation and more of a haven where those who find joy in rebuilding can take a break at the end of a long day. According to some members, the club becomes a place that de-stresses instead of adding to one’s plate.
“There isn’t a set goal like other clubs,” Wyatt Bertram, a freshman studying mechanical engineering, said. “You can really do anything you want.”
Despite being a self-funded club, there are a multitude of reasons why it is important to student life at ISU. Not only is it a time to decompress and participate in familiar tasks, but it is also a time for learning and practice.
“What we try to teach people here is more along the lines of how to work on things, what it’s like to get your hands dirty, and figure out what problems something may have,” Jeremiah Cornell, a first-year student majoring in aerospace engineering, said. “These are simple skills that aren’t taught in high school anymore as auto shop classes are being pushed out.”
The club has a wide variety of students who have differing knowledge of agricultural mechanics. Helping one another learn is a key to their projects, such as rebuilding their current 1950 John Deere B.
“We want everyone to join,” Cornell said. “We love teaching people. This is the place where some people get their first experience even touching a wrench.”
Although the club has 15 members, it is a tight-knit community.
“It’s a shared knowledge experience,” Langreck said. “It’s always a good amount of people you get to meet and talk to.”