Magruder engineering
program steals spotlight
Feb. 24, 2005
By Warren Parish, Staff Writer
Col. Zadok Magruder High School's model engineering program took the
spotlight during a visit from Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and several
state cabinet members Monday morning.
"If Maryland wants to be a high-tech,
bio-tech, nano-tech, any-kind-of-tech environment, that means we're
going to have to groom, prepare and sponsor programs like this for
students like these," Steele (R) said, standing in front of the
pre-engineering students and more than a dozen government, college
and private sector program partners who converged at the Derwood
school. |
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Steele, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and the
cabinet members spent the day in Montgomery County, stopping at a
variety of venues and meeting with business and elected leaders.
Situated on Muncaster Mill Road, not far from the Interstate 270
Technology Corridor, Magruder High School is home to Project Lead
the Way, a national program designed to encourage student interest
in engineering, math and science through hands-on experience. The
students get to interact with professionals from various engineering
fields and, if they keep their grades up, qualify for college
credit.
"I'm particularly pleased to see the business and the university
systems coming together to make something happening our classrooms,"
Steele said. "Lockheed and Northrop, there's your workforce sitting
over there at the computers."
Maryland Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick and
participating university and private sector representatives also
visited with the students in the two-year-old engineering academy.
Participants are asked to work on projects that require
three-dimensional drafting and high-end physics in order to design
and manufacture working products.
"These students are doing the same types of activities that an
engineer would be doing," said Lynne Gilli of the Department of
Education's Division of Career Technology and Adult Learning. " ...
This course is built at the highest level a kid can obtain. We think
it's good because students who are not typically turned on by math
and science are. We're trying to bring in minorities and women
because we know that the engineering population that's currently
working will retire within the next 10 to 15 years. And then there
will be a high need."
Lockheed Martin typically hires between 2,000 and 3,000 engineers a
year, said program participant James Sturges, director of
engineering processes at the aerospace company.
"This is the future of the country," said Sturges, who also serves
on the Montgomery County Business Roundtable for Education.
"Engineers design America. And without engineers, we're going to
fall farther behind."
So far the program has worked, said Principal David Steinberg. By
creating small educational clusters, or academies, Magruder is among
the leaders in educational reform in American high schools, he said.
Magruder has two other academies and is developing three more.
"The idea is to create a more personalized education for students,"
Steinberg said. "Our academic achievement has risen markedly and
[there is] a sense of belonging. It's relevant to them because they
chose it."
Project Lead the Way teacher Amy Gensemer said the hands-on
curriculum is designed to orient the students to engineering, better
preparing them for college programs that have a dropout rate of 50
percent.
Sophomore Lauren Miller said the model program has helped her decide
to pursue an engineering career.
"We've seen several aspects of engineering and space engineering,"
said sophomore Rashad Carlyle, who wants to be an architectural
engineer. "We're able to work in several fields as we go through the
programs. We also get to actually create our buildings."
The state Department of Education has provided $2 million in grants
in order to implement the program in 26 schools statewide.
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