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Academy presents students with mind challenges
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| Andrew Martin (left), 14; Travis Hines, 15; and T.J. Calkins, 15; look at a walking robot while a another robot takes a path along a white line. Students in the engineering technology classes learn how to build bridges, towers, work with magnetic levitation and apply roller coaster physics. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Engineering school stresses education through team concept.
By MICHAEL MITSEFF
mmitseff@lakecityreporter.com
Retired civil engineer and instructor Dan Barselou is aggressively positioning Trenton High School in Gilchrist County to entice bright, qualified and interested high school students to apply for the school’s engineering academy.
Barselou’s vision is to prepare a group of students who enroll and move through the academy together as a team, and apply the high-level math lessons learned at the academy to hands-on engineering projects.
The goal is to graduate well-prepared engineering students with practical and formal knowledge before they enter college, “whether it’s Lake City Community College, a university or, hopefully, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” Barselou said. “What the academy does — particularly for engineering — is better prepare the students in the harder core classes,” Barselou said. “For instance, we’ve got chemistry on board; it’s a dual-enrollment class here at the high school.
“We have an articulation agreement with Lake City Community College so that students will receive college credit for the course,” he said. “Our instructor Ms. (Suzette) Lopez is certified to teach at the community college level.”
The articulation agreement between the high school and LCCC is typical in the region and facilitates dual-enrollment by high school students.
“An articulation agreement is an agreement between a community college and a school system, in this case Trenton High School in Gilchrist County,” said Tracy Hickman, LCCC Dean of Occupational Programs.
Hickman said the articulation agreement allows the college and high school to integrate college-level course work into specific high school courses that are matched to certificate and degree programs offered at the college.
Mutual benefit
In addition to the articulation agreement, LCCC received a $1.9 million community-based job training grant that will be used to increase regional training in the areas of engineering and process technology, through the implementation of industry-driven curriculum, Hickman said.
The grant money will also be used to design more courses that align with the engineering academy at Trenton to create a sort of pipeline to the college so that engineering students can seamlessly move on to LCCC and continue their course work.
LCCC will also develop programs that will encompass K-12 summer institutes and Associate of Science and Associate of Arts degrees that align with the occupational needs of businesses already in the region and those who are considering moving to the region.
“We look at our partners in the grant, the businesses that are here, and we look at their available jobs and what their needs are because that is what the grant is addressing,” Hickman said.
The plan is to target particular occupations within the community and to implement an integrate course study with the region’s schools.
“If we can start the knowledge and skill base at the high school level then we are able to turn out skilled workers earlier,” she said.
Without the grant and programs that will be developed with the grant money, the incentive to dual-enroll wouldn’t be as desirable, Hickman said.
Options available
Barselou said that several dual-enrollment classes are available to academy students.
“I’m taking biology, student success and English Composition I online,” said Jordan Gray, a dual-enrolled first-year engineering student. “I want to finish at least one year at Lake City Community College, and then I want to transfer to a university.”
Gray said he is looking forward to getting an engineering degree, but he’s not sure which field of engineering he’ll choose.
“My top choice for school is Georgia Tech University, but if that doesn’t work out for me, the University of Florida is my second choice.
“I enjoy our engineering class and I’m looking forward to our next project in
robotics,” Gray said.
The other teachers in the academy besides Barselou include Tiffany VunCannon, mathematics teacher; and Sue Reed, English and social studies teacher.
Project diversity
One of the reasons students apply for the academy is the chance to work on engineering projects which utilize not only upper-level math, but the use of sophisticated computer-modeling programs, according to the students.
In the first year of the academy, the students are enrolled in Engineering Technology I and they build a variety of projects ranging from towers, bridges, MAGLEV (magnetic levitation), rockets, robotics, hot air balloons, roller coasters and mini-Trebuchets (a medieval sling-type catapult).
The students must figure out the hemispheric shape of the hot air balloon and it must lift 12 ounces off the ground.
For the Trebuchet project, the students are told they are working as weapon-systems engineers for King Edward III, in 14th century France.
The students design a small-scale version of a Trebuchet (petrariae — literally, stone hurler). The full-scale version can throw a 160-pound boulder able to knock down castle walls.
It requires 16,000 pounds of counterweight to throw a 160 pound boulder — a
100:1 ratio, said Barselou.
Second-year students study Engineering Technology II and collaborate on a year-long project, an Air Cushion Vehicle (hover craft).
“The students learn about the mechanics of single engine, ducted lift systems, lithium polymer batteries, e-flight electric motors, transmitters and receivers and all the electronic components that they need to build a vehicle that will sustain controllable flight over land, water and ice, whether over the ocean or grass, it doesn’t make a difference,” Barselou said.
Engineering III is the culmination of the previous two years projects and the students design a more complex project.
“The students design and build a single-passenger electric vehicle and compete in the Florida Electrathon held in Titusville and at University of South Florida in Tampa,” Barselou said.
Eager learners needed
Though the projects are fun for the students, the need for qualified engineers is a present reality, according to Barselou.
“Based on a presentation given by the University of Florida last year, at its
conference, they found that enrollment in engineering has fallen off drastically in
the past decade, although general enrollment has shot up from 20,000 to 24,000 to 28,800 applicants last year,” Barselou said.
“In spite of rising numbers of applicants, the college of engineering continues to lose a high number of U.S.-born students,” he said. “Most students won’t go through the rigors of the math, the science and the physics, calculus and chemistry that they are going to need in order to be successful engineers,” he said.
“Right now, major universities are reporting that about 48 to 52 percent of the incoming engineering students will drop out, change majors or fail out of the engineering course within the first two years — because they are not prepared,” Barselou said.
He noted that the students in the academy must be able to think about and analyze problems and learn how to brainstorm for potential solutions by using deductive reasoning.
The successful demonstration of the design and prototype is the largest grade
that the students get in the engineering program, according to Barselou.
“Of course, they get grades for the classroom activities, mathematical models and such but the big grades come from the successful demonstration and application of knowledge.
“The pay in engineering is phenomenal,” Barselou said. “The potential for employment in just about any part of the world is available, and engineering is diversified in that it offers many career opportunities such as civil, electrical, mechanical, structural, petroleum, nuclear, nanotechnology and micro technology engineering.
“I found out about the engineering academy, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said first-year engineering student Chris Ricard. “It’s hard sometimes doing the math and coding and stuff, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.”
Barselou’s vision is to prepare a group of students who enroll and move through the academy together as a team, and apply the high-level math lessons learned at the academy to hands-on engineering projects.
The goal is to graduate well-prepared engineering students with practical and formal knowledge before they enter college, “whether it’s Lake City Community College, a university or, hopefully, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” Barselou said. “What the academy does — particularly for engineering — is better prepare the students in the harder core classes,” Barselou said. “For instance, we’ve got chemistry on board; it’s a dual-enrollment class here at the high school.
“We have an articulation agreement with Lake City Community College so that students will receive college credit for the course,” he said. “Our instructor Ms. (Suzette) Lopez is certified to teach at the community college level.”
The articulation agreement between the high school and LCCC is typical in the region and facilitates dual-enrollment by high school students.
“An articulation agreement is an agreement between a community college and a school system, in this case Trenton High School in Gilchrist County,” said Tracy Hickman, LCCC Dean of Occupational Programs.
Hickman said the articulation agreement allows the college and high school to integrate college-level course work into specific high school courses that are matched to certificate and degree programs offered at the college.
Mutual benefit
In addition to the articulation agreement, LCCC received a $1.9 million community-based job training grant that will be used to increase regional training in the areas of engineering and process technology, through the implementation of industry-driven curriculum, Hickman said.
The grant money will also be used to design more courses that align with the engineering academy at Trenton to create a sort of pipeline to the college so that engineering students can seamlessly move on to LCCC and continue their course work.
LCCC will also develop programs that will encompass K-12 summer institutes and Associate of Science and Associate of Arts degrees that align with the occupational needs of businesses already in the region and those who are considering moving to the region.
“We look at our partners in the grant, the businesses that are here, and we look at their available jobs and what their needs are because that is what the grant is addressing,” Hickman said.
The plan is to target particular occupations within the community and to implement an integrate course study with the region’s schools.
“If we can start the knowledge and skill base at the high school level then we are able to turn out skilled workers earlier,” she said.
Without the grant and programs that will be developed with the grant money, the incentive to dual-enroll wouldn’t be as desirable, Hickman said.
Options available
Barselou said that several dual-enrollment classes are available to academy students.
“I’m taking biology, student success and English Composition I online,” said Jordan Gray, a dual-enrolled first-year engineering student. “I want to finish at least one year at Lake City Community College, and then I want to transfer to a university.”
Gray said he is looking forward to getting an engineering degree, but he’s not sure which field of engineering he’ll choose.
“My top choice for school is Georgia Tech University, but if that doesn’t work out for me, the University of Florida is my second choice.
“I enjoy our engineering class and I’m looking forward to our next project in
robotics,” Gray said.
The other teachers in the academy besides Barselou include Tiffany VunCannon, mathematics teacher; and Sue Reed, English and social studies teacher.
Project diversity
One of the reasons students apply for the academy is the chance to work on engineering projects which utilize not only upper-level math, but the use of sophisticated computer-modeling programs, according to the students.
In the first year of the academy, the students are enrolled in Engineering Technology I and they build a variety of projects ranging from towers, bridges, MAGLEV (magnetic levitation), rockets, robotics, hot air balloons, roller coasters and mini-Trebuchets (a medieval sling-type catapult).
The students must figure out the hemispheric shape of the hot air balloon and it must lift 12 ounces off the ground.
For the Trebuchet project, the students are told they are working as weapon-systems engineers for King Edward III, in 14th century France.
The students design a small-scale version of a Trebuchet (petrariae — literally, stone hurler). The full-scale version can throw a 160-pound boulder able to knock down castle walls.
It requires 16,000 pounds of counterweight to throw a 160 pound boulder — a
100:1 ratio, said Barselou.
Second-year students study Engineering Technology II and collaborate on a year-long project, an Air Cushion Vehicle (hover craft).
“The students learn about the mechanics of single engine, ducted lift systems, lithium polymer batteries, e-flight electric motors, transmitters and receivers and all the electronic components that they need to build a vehicle that will sustain controllable flight over land, water and ice, whether over the ocean or grass, it doesn’t make a difference,” Barselou said.
Engineering III is the culmination of the previous two years projects and the students design a more complex project.
“The students design and build a single-passenger electric vehicle and compete in the Florida Electrathon held in Titusville and at University of South Florida in Tampa,” Barselou said.
Eager learners needed
Though the projects are fun for the students, the need for qualified engineers is a present reality, according to Barselou.
“Based on a presentation given by the University of Florida last year, at its
conference, they found that enrollment in engineering has fallen off drastically in
the past decade, although general enrollment has shot up from 20,000 to 24,000 to 28,800 applicants last year,” Barselou said.
“In spite of rising numbers of applicants, the college of engineering continues to lose a high number of U.S.-born students,” he said. “Most students won’t go through the rigors of the math, the science and the physics, calculus and chemistry that they are going to need in order to be successful engineers,” he said.
“Right now, major universities are reporting that about 48 to 52 percent of the incoming engineering students will drop out, change majors or fail out of the engineering course within the first two years — because they are not prepared,” Barselou said.
He noted that the students in the academy must be able to think about and analyze problems and learn how to brainstorm for potential solutions by using deductive reasoning.
The successful demonstration of the design and prototype is the largest grade
that the students get in the engineering program, according to Barselou.
“Of course, they get grades for the classroom activities, mathematical models and such but the big grades come from the successful demonstration and application of knowledge.
“The pay in engineering is phenomenal,” Barselou said. “The potential for employment in just about any part of the world is available, and engineering is diversified in that it offers many career opportunities such as civil, electrical, mechanical, structural, petroleum, nuclear, nanotechnology and micro technology engineering.
“I found out about the engineering academy, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said first-year engineering student Chris Ricard. “It’s hard sometimes doing the math and coding and stuff, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.”
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