Reluctant at first, East High students now eager for engineering studies

YOUNGSTOWN

Ask the students in East High School’s new Introduction to Engineering and Design course what they thought when they were placed in the class, and they’ll probably tell you the same thing: They didn’t want to be there.

“Why’d they give me this class?” 10th-grader Stephaun Lundy wondered when he found out he was in it. “But it’s cool now.”

“I didn’t want to be in it. When you get put into something you don’t know anything about, it’s kind of hard to get used to it until you find an interest in it,” said Brandon Wesley, also in 10th-grade.

Now, he said, “It’s a pretty fun class.”

“I didn’t like it,” said Odyessie Butler-Reed. “I love it now.”

That evolution has taken place over the last several months, since the STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – course was introduced at East. The course addition marks an expansion of the city school district’s STEM offerings; Chaney High School, for example, has offered introductory engineering and design for several years, and has higher-level courses that follow it.

“It is part of the Project Lead the Way curriculum,” said district STEM coordinator Pam Lubich, referring to a non-profit organization that develops STEM curricula for schools. “When Mr. Mohip came on board, he asked me what it would take for us to be able to offer that over at East.”

Krish Mohip is the city schools CEO who took over leadership of the district at the start of this school year. He announced in August that East would begin offering STEM, as well as dance and music classes.

East teacher Thad Jemison, who teaches the engineering and design course to two classes, is glad Mohip pushed to implement STEM at the school.

Read more about the new program in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.