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Where tomorrow's engineers take off

A new academy program at East Lake High School lets students earn college engineering credits.

By JANE MADDEN WELCH
Published October 29, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Kathleen Flynn] Engineering teacher Keith Arnold shows students how to measure the dimensions of a pencil with a dial caliper Friday during an introduction to engineering design class that is part of the new engineering academy at East Lake High. Seventy-two ninth-graders were accepted to the program.

EAST LAKE - Catching the bus at 6:05 a.m. and riding 40 minutes to school would draw moans and groans from many ninth-graders, but not Bryan Maynard.

Bryan, 14, lives in Clearwater and is enrolled in the new engineering academy at East Lake High School.

"I was amazed when I found out there was such a program," Bryan said. "It seems like such an interesting thing."

The engineering academy is the brainchild of East Lake High School teachers Paul Wahnish and Keith Arnold.

In 2001, East Lake High School had one engineering class. Wahnish outlined a five-year plan to promote technology, with the hopes of establishing an engineering academy where students could earn college credits.

In 2002, the School Board approved the program, which began this year. The curriculum was designed by Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit organization that promotes precollege engineering studies through partnerships between private companies and public schools.

Since then, the engineering academy has sparked interest among aspiring engineers. To start, 72 ninth-graders out of 263 applicants were accepted into the inaugural class.

"This is the culmination of everything that we have tried to implement from the very beginning," Wahnish said. He is also the faculty sponsor for the school's award-winning robotics team.

The academy is a four-year program that emphasizes engineering classes in conjunction with a regular core curriculum. Over the course of their high school education, academy students will take six yearlong engineering classes taught by Wahnish and Arnold: introduction to engineering design, computer integrated manufacturing, principles of engineering, digital electronics, civil engineering and architecture, and engineering design and development. Students can receive up to 16 college credits through the program.

Of the six dozen students accepted into the academy, about 20 percent are girls.

Kelly Powell, 14, said she has wanted to be an engineer since middle school and hopes to attend college at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Math and science have been my favorite subjects since I started school," she said.

Kelly was excited when she found out that she was accepted into the East Lake engineering academy.

"I danced around the house for a couple of days," she said.

Kelly is in Arnold's engineering design class where recently the students worked with precision steel dial calipers to measure wooden blocks to a thousandth of an inch. Previously they designed puzzle cubes on the computer to specific dimensions.

Matt McHugh, 14, said engineering design is his favorite class. He moved to Palm Harbor from Atlanta last year, and he was eager to join the academy.

"There weren't any programs like this in Atlanta that I knew about," Matt said.

East Lake High School principal Clayton Snare called the program "outstanding."

"It brings another great opportunity for students to be exposed to a particular career," he said.

Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport also implemented an engineering academy this year.

Wahnish and Arnold said they hope to add biotechnology and aerospace courses over the next two years. The academy will be open to 125 ninth-graders for the 2007-08 school year.

East Lake High School freshman Amanda Stahel, 15, said the expectations for the first engineering academy class are high.

"I think we're up to the challenge," she said.

[Last modified October 28, 2006, 20:21:31]