Asheville High and SILSA Adopt STEM Education Program

Asheville High School and SILSA have recently adopted the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program and will begin offering special courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year. PLTW is the nation’s leading provider of STEM curricula to middle and high schools, with more than 5,200 programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including 25 Biomedical Sciences programs in North Carolina.

AHS/SILSA will offer PLTW’s Biomedical Sciences program, a high school program that introduces students to medicine and human body systems, preparing them for careers in medical and health-related fields. Students will explore the concepts of human medicine and be introduced to topics like physiology, genetics, microbiology and public health. Hands-on activities will include dissecting a heart, during which students will examine the processes, structures, and interactions of the human body. They will also explore the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, working collaboratively to investigate and design innovative solutions to the health challenges of the 21st century. In the process, students will be introduced to a range of biomedical careers. It is hoped that in addition to preparing them for careers, they will be inspired as well.

“PLTW has a long history of successfully engaging students in STEM subjects,” said SILSA principal Greg Townsend. “Asheville High School/SILSA is proud to offer PLTW to our students, giving them an advantage over their peers when it comes to high school, college, and career readiness. We believe our community will also see the benefits of PLTW as the pool of highly-skilled workers for local businesses – especially our thriving healthcare industry – increases.”

Project Lead The Way (PLTW) originated in 1986 when Richard Blais, chairman of the technology department in the Shenendehowa Central School District in Upstate New York, began offering pre-engineering and digital electronics classes to encourage students to study engineering. He developed a rigorous curriculum and paired it with an interactive learning environment to engage students; after achieving some success, he partnered with Richard Liebich, whose family founded the Charitable Leadership Foundation (CLF), to establish PLTW. In 1997, PLTW launched its “Pathway To Engineering” program in 12 New York State high schools.

Over the years PLTW has partnered with NASA, Intel Corporation, and other leading research organizations, and has been endorsed or recommended by the U.S. Department of Education, the Aerospace Industries Association, the Bayer Foundation, and other groups. By providing high-quality professional development training to teachers, they can effectively implement and teach a hands-on, project-based curriculum.

PLTW schools also benefit from the organization’s engaged network of Fortune 500 companies, state leaders, and university affiliations, which provide students opportunities for college credit, scholarships and admissions preferences. A local school-based PLTW Partnership Teams will be recruiting Asheville-area business and industry professionals to serve as mentors and share their real-world experiences with students.

For more information, contact Greg Townsend, Principal, SILSA, at (828) 350-2706, or Carol Ray, Principal, AHS, at (828) 350-2500.