Over the next few years, Northridge will offer juniors and seniors studying science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) four more field-specific engineering offerings as they prepare for college or a career.
This ensures students are ready to spread their wings and fly in postsecondary life whether they pursue aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering or a career outside of engineering.
Last year, Northridge High School received a $16,000 grant to implement Project Lead the Way curriculum into the school’s STEM Academy, according to STEM Academy Coordinator Machin Norris. The school first used the funding to start an aerospace engineering course at Northridge this school year.
More will come out of the grant next school year with the addition of a civil and architectural engineering course and two additional courses that aren’t yet determined.
Under the structure and guidelines of the National Academy Foundation, Northridge’s STEM Academy has three pathways for students to explore: the Academy of Math and Science, the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Information Technology.
As part of the district’s career and technical education engineering pathway, the aerospace engineering course uses Project Lead the Way curriculum, also offered at Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering. The high school pursued Project Lead the Way to improve its “feeder system” with Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering, located less than a mile from Northridge.
“We wanted to prepare ourselves and place ourselves in a position where we have that similar language, similar offering,” Norris said.
SPACE TO SEARCH CAREERS, COLLEGE PROSPECTS
Only Northridge students can take the aerospace class as of right now. Available to juniors and seniors, 30 students are currently enrolled.
For many, aerospace could end up being a college or career path.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 180,000 new engineering jobs were created from 2012-2022. The bureau also projects about 4,200 openings for aerospace engineers each year, over the next decade.
The aerospace industry as a whole is growing in employment steadily at a rate of 6 percent every year, according to NMG Aerospace.
Aerospace engineering piqued the interest of Northridge seniors Rosalinda Bocanegra and Mi Meh, who both have a passion for STEM. Bocanegra’s passion lies in the computer science and mechanical engineering paths, but the new class has motivated her to ponder studying aerospace in college.
Bocanegra called the course, “a really good addition,” because it exposes students to another college and career choice in the engineering field — a relatively broad postsecondary option.
As senior David Rivera contemplates his future, he also considers pursuing aerospace engineering in college, along with either architectural or mechanical engineering. Rivera recently sat on a panel at District 6’s partnership appreciation breakfast to share about his internship at CNE Creative Enterprises, a product development company in Greeley.
At his internship, Rivera helped design an aquaponics farm that went to a pilot program at Egerton University in Kenya, where they’re teaching farmers how to build aquaponic farms. In less than a week, Rivera taught himself how to use the modeling software to design the farm.
In the classroom, Rivera’s expanding his expertise and knowledge into a whole new world: space.
Zachary Romer, a science and STEM teacher at Northridge, leads the four-unit aerospace course using Project Lead the Way. As a hobbyist in aerospace, Romer gets to bring his ideas and passions into the classroom, to teach a broad overview on the field. This includes covering how aircraft work and operate, working with control surfaces, learning about air traffic control, diving into space and rocketry and much more.
The first unit opens with a “pilot’s ground school” and the course continues into working with satellites and GPS systems, as well as lessons on orbits and interplanetary travel by the third unit. The final unit is all about application, according to Romer.
“The other classes we offer are more generalistic engineering practices, and we do a little bit of everything,” Romer said.
The units follow the “well-written curriculum” to have a beneficial balance between lecture and application, Romer said. Last week, students learned about material science, building and maintaining aircraft, and the benefits offered by different materials. This week is all about experimenting with what they learned.
Romer called Tuesday’s class a “play day” for students to make box frames with a frame generator, exploring the different ways of welding frames together and the different strengths of materials.
“What I like about it is that the material uses a lot of real-world software and technology,” he added. “So when we get into satellite work, we’re using the same software that professionals use to track satellites.”
However, going on Day 4 of exploring a new rigorous software has brought out irritation among many students who want to master the program quickly.
Romer tells his pupils frustration is a good thing because it challenges them. As a STEM teacher, he believes the aerospace course challenges students in ways that other classes don’t.
OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Only four months into the course, students have had the unique opportunity to use a browser-based flight simulator to practice landing, seeing firsthand how to control the aircraft.
Another hands-on opportunity, building gliders out of balsa wood, quickly became a favorite assignment among many students in Romer’s aerospace class. This involved using a software program to make the glider’s design, building the glider and then seeing if their final product would fly. Romer said this task involved utilizing good engineering practices and additional techniques to accomplish.
Bocanegra said she enjoyed her time and effort on the project, which required her to fail and try again, to see her hard work pay off when she reached her goal of gliding.
The course involves hands-on learning experiences to build underlying skills like rigor, familiarity with different software and trial and error, which will help students become successful in any post-secondary endeavor.
“We certainly have some students that are on the engineering pathway, but might not be on an airspace pathway,” Romer said. “It’s still valuable because they’re getting those skills.”
While some students added aerospace as a new passion to their list of engineering jobs to consider, others in the class believe the course has been eye-opening in discovering this specific pathway isn’t for them.
Juniors Adriane Perez and Valery Ramirez in the course both want to take their STEM skills and knowledge into a medical field profession. Additionally, a few students want to join the military, which has multiple engineering pathways, whether in aerospace or another field.
UP-IN-THE-AIR OPPORTUNITIES
A long-term goal as the course grows for Romer includes expanding and building more local partnerships with agencies like Aims Community College and the Greeley-Weld County Airport, to help students delve into career paths, from air traffic control to mechanical engineering.
Students will tour the Greeley airport this year, but additional learning experiences and opportunities await. Through strengthening partnerships, Romer would love to see students learn from the Aims flight simulator, one of many ideas to incorporate the local community into the Project Lead the Way curriculum.
“We have a bunch of students who are super excited about aerospace, and we have a lot of good local opportunities for them,” Romer said. “These kids are learning about career opportunities that are in aerospace that they might not know about.”
©2024 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
