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| Tom Cossio of Boeing, second from left, presents a donation to Cal Poly Pomona to support Project Lead the Way. |
Cal Poly Pomona got a boost from the Boeing Company to help educate the next generation of engineers.
The College of Engineering recently received a $75,000 donation from Boeing to support Project Lead the Way (PLTW), an effort to provide pre-engineering and science curricula to middle and high school students.
This summer, the College of Engineering will host its first Summer Training Institute for high school and middle school teachers, in which they will learn the PLTW curriculum so they can teach pre-engineering courses at their respective schools in the fall.
“Support from Boeing will allow Cal Poly Pomona to purchase equipment necessary to offer the PLTW Summer Training Institute here on campus,” says Cordelia Ontiveros, associate dean of the College of Engineering. “This will allow teachers from the local area to attend training here, rather than traveling out of the area. Also, support from a large organization such as Boeing lends additional credibility to this initiative to increase the number and quality of engineers graduating from our educational system.”
The two-week intensive summer training program will give teachers an overview of the PLTW curriculum, including introduction to engineering design and gateway to technology. The courses are taught by PLTW master teachers, who are high school and middle school instructors experienced in teaching the curriculum to students.
PLTW curriculum was first introduced in 12 New York high schools in 1997. Today, the programs are offered at more than 3,000 schools in 50 states.
For more information about Project Lead the Way, visit www.cpp.edu/~engineering/locators/pltw/index.html.