Thanks to a $35,000 grant, the Kirksville Area Technical Center will now be able to implement an engineering program for high school students.
The program was developed by Project Lead the Way, a non-profit organization that provides science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs to elementary, middle schools, and high schools nationwide.
Project Lead the Way hosted the competition with funding from the Bemis Company, a packaging supplier. 52 schools from the United States received the award. The Kirksville Area Technical Center was the only school from Missouri to win.
Senior Director of Media and Public Relations Jennifer Cahill said the organization is looking forward to the program’s implementation at the center.
“We’re really excited for the students at the Kirksville Technical Center for the opportunity that they are going to have next year and in the years to come to take advantage of the Project Lead the Way engineering program,” she said.
The Center is already participating in Project Lead the Way’s biomedical program and plans implement the engineering program this upcoming school year. The program will seek to prepare high school students for post-high school education as well as employment opportunities in engineering.
Kirksville Area Technical Center Director Sheryl Ferguson said part of money will be used for training teachers.
“This first year we will spend it on training costs for our instructors,” she said. “Any instructor who teaches a Project Lead the Way course is required to go through a two-week intensive training.”
The center will use the grant funds for the engineering program this year but plans to use it to implement additional Project Lead the Way programs through 2017.
