Farmington builds future engineers

A popular program gives students basic, hands-on experience in a profession that needs new recruits.

By EMILY JOHNS, Star Tribune

Last update: December 17, 2007 - 3:17 PM

Farmington High School senior Josh Peterson thought he wanted to be an engineer. So for his junior year, he signed up for a new pre-engineering program at school.

Now, he knows he wants to be an engineer.

"I think a lot of the kids in the school are interested in engineering," he said. "Now they can actually take engineering classes and see what it really is."

Now in its second year, the "Project Lead the Way" program is available to students in all grades at Farmington High School. The program has been "very popular" at the high school, according to Principal Monica Kittock-Sargent.

"I think the shortage of engineers has become very public," she said. "So it makes sense to start having our students at the high school think about that as a possibility and start getting their feet wet. Students are gravitating towards it."

Statewide, the Department of Education has pushed school districts to offer "STEM" classes, or classes in science, technology, engineering and math. Farmington High School shares a three-year, $50,000 grant from the Kern Family Foundation with Eagle Ridge Junior High in Savage, which is offering the program for seventh- and eighth-graders.

In Minnesota, more than 120 middle and high schools offer "Project Lead the Way," with another 20 planning to start next fall. In the south metro, Shakopee High School, and Burnsville's Metcalf and Nicollet junior highs offer it.

Eighty to 100 students at Farmington are taking the classes, according to teacher Dave Stauffer. The first yearlong class is "Introduction to Engineering Design," where students learn how to graphically represent ideas through the use of three-dimensional modeling software. The second class is "Principles of Engineering," where students get more in-depth into the world of engineering and specifics such as kinematics, thermodynamics and control systems.

No advanced prerequisites are required and students can enroll in the first class after taking geometry, according to Stauffer.

"Students like it because it gives a hands-on approach to engineering," he said. "They're able to create some really neat things quite quickly."

"Project Lead the Way" is a not-for-profit organization that was implemented for the first time in New York for the 1997-98 school year. Its mission is to "create dynamic partnerships with our nation's schools to prepare an increasingly more diverse group of students to be successful in engineering and engineering technology programs."

"It offers students a different setting to learn," Stauffer said. "It's a good way to learn what could otherwise be a fairly complicated task. It's done in such a way that the kids still enjoy it and don't get overwhelmed."

Emily Johns • 952-882-9056