Riverbend students get a taste of careers in science and technology with Project Lead the Way
By Wyatt Mathews and Riley Smith
Project Lead The Way, also called PLTW, is a program where students learn about STEM topics like coding, medicine, and engineering. Students can take courses such as “Medical Detectives,” “Automation and Robotics” and “Flight and Space.”
Denise Generally is the Project Lead The Way teacher at Riverbend. It is her 20th year teaching and her first year teaching at Riverbend.
“It is a new experience… It’s my first year just teaching PLTW in a seventy-minute class period,” Generally said. “The seventy-minute class periods are new, but I like them.”
Riverbend students think that Project Lead The Way is fun and challenging. 7th-grader Gianna Valenti is taking Medical Detectives and Flight and Space. She likes Medical Detectives, but she likes the people in Flight and Space more.
“In Medical Detectives, you have to find out what is going on with somebody, and you have to help them,” Valenti said. “But, in Flight and Space, you have to find out where someone is travelling to, which is challenging.”
Riley Quennoz is an 8th-grade student who is taking Automation and Robotics. He also likes the program because he gets to work in a group instead of individually.
8th-grader Rykar Trenholm is also taking Automation and Robotics. He thinks the class is important for his future.
“Since technology is only going to get more advanced, we need to know how to use it and what it does,” Trenholm said.
7th-grader Ethan Collico is taking both Medical Detectives and Flight and Space. He likes the classes. In Medical Detectives, he has to find out what is going on with somebody and what medication they need to get better, which can help him in the future. But, in Flight and Space, you learn how to control a plane and how to make one.
Jen Jones teaches computer science, a PLTW class. She said that her class is different because it's all computer coding, and students use a tool called a “Micro: bit” to practice coding. Jones said PLTW courses are very useful for middle school students.
“It's good to take it in middle school so they can learn if they want to take the classes,” Jones said.
Generally is also starting the “eCyberMission” club that connects to Project Lead The Way. eCyberMission is a national science competition that is sponsored by the U.S. Army and science teachers.
For eCyberMission, you choose a science project or an engineering project. The competition is in all 50 U.S. states, including the U.S. territories and the Department of Defense Schools. There are three levels of winners. Each one is awarded a cash prize. If you win all three, you are awarded a savings bond prize.
“In the class, I direct what the students do and when to do it. The club is 100% student-driven,” Generally said. “You pick your project, and I help you with what to do and give you advice.”
Generally would recommend PLTW to anyone who is interested in computer programming, robotics, and careers in medicine.
The other faculty of Riverbend Middle School think that Project Lead The Way is different than other classes.
Ken Grodie, the assistant principal at RMS, said that the program gives students a chance to collaborate with other students in a more hands-on experience.
“In other courses, students will only find one answer, but in Project Lead The Way, students will find multiple answers that aren’t right or wrong,” Grodie said.
Riverbend principal Todd Dempsey said that PLTW gives students the opportunity for more hands-on learning, and the students have a wide variety of courses.
“When I was in school, I didn’t have anything like Project Lead The Way,” Dempsey said. “Technology is only going to evolve, so people need to learn more about it and how to use it.”
