Engineering curriculum added to school agenda

NEW BREMEN - Project Lead The Way (PLTW) will be offered to high school students next year, making New Bremen Local Schools the third area school to adopt the engineering curriculum.

During the regular school board meeting Wednesday evening, members officially approved including the engineering curriculum for next school year after listening to a presentation by Superintendent Ann Harvey.

PLTW is a national non-profit organization that partners up with middle schools and high schools to create a pre-engineering curriculum. It includes classes - which also count as college credit - that are intended to increase a student's knowledge and base foundation of engineering concepts.

Students involved with the program will take classes such as digital electronics, bio-technical engineering, computer integrated manufacturing and civil engineering and architecture. The fourth-year class will be problem solving with real world applications.

Both Fort Recovery and St. Henry already are offering PLTW classes to their students this year.

"Our students have talents," Harvey told board members. "They're very talented in math and science."

The program will be paid for with a $20,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Education and a $22,000 contribution from Crown Equipment Corp. and the Dicke family of New Bremen. The start-up cost is estimated at $42,000.

Harvey said the curriculum is appropriate for students at various levels and with different interests.

She said "an underachiever might get hooked by a high-tech, hands-on class or a struggling student who learns best by doing."