The way Leslie Eaves sees it, the skills that students learn in engineering classes will serve them well no matter where life takes them.
In engineering, she said, you have to find answers to such questions as "How to do I go from A to B given my constraints?"
"It's problem solving," Eaves said. "It develops your creative mind. You have to think in ways that are different."
That's valuable no matter whether you become a lawyer, chef or artist.
"It has been so helpful to me in every aspect of my life," she said. "Granted, I'm biased."
Eaves is the academic coordinator for the School of Pre-Engineering, one of three schools-within-a-school at Atkins High School. In the School of Pre-Engineering, students have access to such technology as a three-dimensional printer that produces plastic parts that students can use to make models. They also work with a software-hardware system that enables them to design and build a device that automatically sorts marbles by color.
The other two schools at Atkins are the School of Biotechnology and the School of Computer Technology. Atkins is associated with Project Lead the Way, a national program created to get middle- and high-school students interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
On Nov. 12, Eaves was one of 10 Project Lead the Way teachers from around the country to get a Building the Future Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation and the technology company 3M.
The honor came with $1,000, 3M digital-projection equipment and a trip to Austin, Texas, to receive the award at the foundation's national symposium. Project Lead the Way also provided a $3,500 grant that enabled four students --Dyronne Mabry, Melany Romero-Dugarte, Aidan McCaul, Kylil Martin -- and two teachers -- Ron Moats, Tonja Canady -- to accompany her.
At the symposium, each of the students presented a project. Melany presented the designs she had created for two buildings. She enjoyed seeing what other students had done and participating in such on-the-spot challenges as how to build a mechanical toy with such everyday items as cardboard boxes and balloons.
"It was great," she said.
Melany appreciates Eaves as both a teacher and as a person.
"She is awesome. There is no other word for it," Melany said. "She is always there to help you. If you have anything personal to talk about, she is there for you."
Dyronne traces his interest in engineering to taking apart a radio when he was 10 or 11 and thinking, "It would be cool if I could build a robot or something."
Coming to Atkins, he has taken steps to make that a reality. Dyronne wants to go the Worcester Polytechnics Institute in Massachusetts.
"I'm going to be a robotics engineer," he said.
Eaves, 34, was working on a doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of South Carolina when she began working with a National Science Foundation project that sent graduate students into middle and high schools. Discovering that she enjoyed teaching, she shifted her focus and ended up getting a master's degree in chemical engineering and helping to establish the program at the Berry Academy of Technology in Charlotte. She came to Atkins in 2005.
Atkins' magnet program was designed to draw students from throughout the county. It has done that for such students as Melany and Dyronne. Most of the students who go there live within the school's attendance area, and, initially, they may not be as excited about the possibilities that technology offers.
Eaves works to see that both sets of students are excited and motivated. She would like for the wider community to become aware of what Atkins has to offer.
"What we have to offer here is stupendous," she said. "I know the power of these programs."
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
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