For the past few months, a group of engineering students from San Jose State University has been working on a project that’s sure to land them at the top of Santa’s “nice” list. Instead of building the next AI platform, they’ve been trying to bring smiles to the faces of kids and adults by making penguins fly for Christmas in the Park.

“Penguin Flight School” was one of the more whimsical displays at San Jose’s beloved holiday tradition at Plaza de Cesar Chavez every year, a carousel with stuffed penguin toys floating down on little canvas parachutes. But time took its toll on the exhibit, and it was pulled from the display the past few years in hopes that it could be repaired.

The San Jose State crew — seniors Derek Do, Cesar Jair Romero Callejas, Daniel Jimenez Hernandez, Mark Bennett

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