IHS academies open path to engineering, IT

Press Release
September 25, 2014
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The essence of education has always been to prepare young people for their future. Immokalee High School is always looking for ways to improve young people’s vision for tomorrow. This year, the Collier County School District, including I.H.S. is bringing a whole new concept to students, dubbed academies.

I.H.S. is providing two academies at this time: Engineering Academy and IT Academy. I.H.S. Engineering instructor is Frederick Rimler, who said it uses an online computer based course on line Learning Management style the same as FGCU.

Mr. Rimler is the head of the Science Department and his personal background is in teaching science and AP physics and science. He has been planning for 1.5 years and earned full National Academy Foundation (NAF) certification last year.

The NAF curriculum targets at-risk students and governs all career academies for the district coordinating both the Engineering and IT courses through project based learning. All lessons connect the units to the class’ final project.

Students work in small groups

The class has already finished a cable car competition and is now working on a puzzle cube – their first major project.

There are 60 engineering students in class, mainly boys, but the girls in the class are really interested, Mr. Rimler points out.

Classes encompass engineering skills from simple to complex For the puzzle cube they work on sketching, learn shading and brainstorm shapes for small blocks that must fit together perfectly to form a cube. They start with 27 small blocks to make own design and fit them together into a 3D cube.

After building each project, students must write sample a design brief, proposal and solution, just as if they were working for a real client.

At the end of the class students will be certified in auto desk inventor.

Edgerrin Washington, a tenth grader, said he talked to his mom in 9th grade about taking the engineer academy. He liked the idea of having more creativity and the ability to use new software. She agreed it would be a good opportunity to take the elective this year. She agreed that he needs a plan for his future.

Edgerrin said Mr. Rimler makes the class great fun, but acknowledges that it’s still work.

Their first project was to make a 54-inch paper bridge in their group. For their next project, a working cable car, Edgerrin was responsible for safety.

He said he’s always loved to build things and added that he needs to practice his sketching to really be successful in the engineering field – it’s the hardest part for him.

Edgerrin also loves to play basketball and is a long jumper in track.

Sofia Villa, 14, is a freshman with an interest in building things and helping her community. She loves to sketch and draw but finds making presentations the hardest part for her.

She plans to join the Key Club and Beta Club in order to help her community and to balance the practical and caring sides of her personality.

IT Academy instructor Steven Becker has a background in computers and math with a BS computer science. He taught computer programming two years and was adjunct faculty at a university.

Ms. Ada Campos teaches the first year Intro to Technology class in the IT Academy, and prepares the students for Mr. Becker’s Intro to Programming in their second year.

Mr. Becker said the course fills a need for these “digital natives” who need a tech driven curriculum. The IT Academy includes job-related skills shadowing and interning as well as guest speakers.

The class will design and build computer games with graphic design and creative visual outlets. Students will earn certification in Intro to Tech Microsoft Office.

It’s a multi year program and Immokalee students are getting the benefit of NAF’s 30 years in curriculum. He said a NAF certification may provide an advantage the hiring preference by some businesses.

Freshman Alex Hernandez freshman is in both the Engineering and IT Academies. He’s excited about the school year, saying, “Engineering is cool. I want to be mechanical engineer some day.” He had decided on that in the fifth grade. He has a cousin studying engineering and began read up on the subject. He was drawn in by the imagination and creativity of the subject and is hoping he can combine IT and engineering in his future career. Alex also plays football – is a wide receiver and split end on the freshman team. He’s thinking about lacrosse, too.

He said he enjoys building things – hands on projects and science and says he hasn’t come up against anything too difficult in the engineering class yet, but he did say it can be difficult to keep up when you get hung up on a problem. IT also attracts Alex. He is open to building his own game using code to visualize what you want on screen.

Alex said he loves and math. It comes easily to him and naturally ties in with IT and engineering.

Mr. Becker said the class has a “menu” approach using data basics and networking a with the business community as the advisory committee. He said the course will give students a broad exposure to computer science. The academy takes a wide approach with no academic requirement and will bridge any shortcomings in English and math students might have. It’s an extra investment in kids for success

The academies will receive a NAF report card yearly to ensure that they meet the criteria. NAF personnel also do on-site visits and students are tested before their certification exam.

The Immokalee academies are linked with other established academies with teachers visiting Miami Gardens classes and learning from them.

The academies have a four-year curriculum with standards and objectives as well as latitude in teaching styles.

It is hoped a third academy, Finances, will join the Engineering and IT courses.

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