With the newly-constructed wing comes eight new elective courses, such as Project Lead the Way, Business Incubator and Nanotechnology and Research,  that have staff and students eager for next year’s STEM focus.

One goal of these electives is to jumpstart education for jobs in Lake County and to provide MHS students with insight into these jobs.

“We had been planning to look into STEM, so we came up with all these cool ideas of what we would do, Project Lead the Way, these research courses…All those were in place, but we had no facilities for it,” said Dr. David Greenwood, the science department chair.

As of 2016-2017, the facilities will now be in place, whereas before, “all those dreams were within the confines of [the] current system,” said David Mork, the fine and applied arts department chair.

The dreaming for this new wing began seven years ago, and with the construction on track to be done for next school year, students were given the chance to sign up for the new electives during this year’s course selection.

Even though seniors will not be able to take these courses, many have said they are excited for the underclassmen who will benefit from them.

“I’m really glad the school decided to take a big step with this new addition…it is helping out the future students of engineering, mathematics, science [and] business,” said Rygar Carvajal, senior, who is vice president of Byte Club, an extracurricular activity that encourages students to learn about the world of programming.

The new courses that will be offered in the new wing are expected to have significant impact on the surrounding area.

“We are hoping STEM, Project Lead the Way and Business Incubator, a lot of these things are going to put us on the map,” said Mork.
Besides making MHS more well-known, the STEM courses will also provide awareness for jobs, like manufacturing, that are in this area while preparing MHS students to be this state’s future workforce by giving them insight into what the jobs are like.

“We are in the fifth largest manufacturing area in the nation… this is an opportunity to provide awareness for these jobs that are out there,” Greenwood said.

Examples of these manufacturing jobs include warehouse packing, warehouse machine operator, manufacturing technician, mechanical assembler, manufacturing supervisor and manufacturing engineer.

“This new STEM wing positions us in a better spot to get the work force ready for this major manufacturing area,” said Mork.
For example, in Business Incubator, students will learn how to make products or services that meet the needs or wants of a certain target audience. In Project Lead the Way, students will explore the engineering design process, applying math, science and engineering concepts to hands-on projects.
“This is such an exciting time to be at MHS,” said Greenwood.

If interested in taking these new courses, below are the seven electives being offered in the new wing next year and an eighth that will be offered during the 2017-2018 school year:

• Mobile App Creating and Coding: Students will explore the world of mobile apps creation and coding.
• AP Computer Science and Principles: This class will introduce students to the creative aspects of programming, the digital representation of information, cybersecurity concerns and other computer science topics.
• Project Lead the Way (PLTW): As a pre-engineering program, the course is designed to introduce high school students to the many aspects of engineering.
• STEM Inquiry and Research: Students will develop research techniques found in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
• Nanotechnology and Research: Students will learn how scientists work by designing research questions and experiments related to atoms and molecules.
• Independent STEM Inquiry and Research: By developing their own questions, students will design investigations to discover answers through experimentation, real-world mentors, analysis and a presentation of their findings.
• Business Incubator: Students will learn how to become true entrepreneurs by designing products that meet the demands of their target audience’s wants and needs.
• Industrial Design (available 2017-2018): This new art course will focus on industrial designs and their impact on product development in our everyday lives.

For further information, visit the course catalogue on the school’s website or talk with your counselor.