Belleville Project Lead the Way Community Partnerships Underway

On Wednesday, September 21st, the School District of Belleville Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Community Engagement Team met at the Belleville High School to discuss program updates and share Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) referendum information with community members. The purpose of the PLTW Community Engagement Team, made up of teachers, administrators, parents and local manufacturing business owners, is to inform the community of STEM program changes, seek guidance from businesses on what skills they would like to see in the classroom and content in courses, and promote communication between the district and businesses.
Project Lead the Way continues to be one of the school district's three initiatives for the 16-17 school year, focusing on project based, hands-on learning for grades K-12. Belleville is the second smallest district in the state to offer PLTW's Computer Integrated Manufacturing, and is off to a great start with numerous PLTW offerings for students. Through PLTW activities students are presented with a pressing problem and turn their ideas into reality, while being empowered and engaged to become thinkers and doers.
The district is also developing partnerships with local businesses to provide opportunities for students, such as the School to Work program, in which students earn high school credit while gaining on the job work experience in a field of their interest. Cate Machine and Welding also generously donated a computer numeric controlled mill for students to learn the art of milling metals and plastics. The district presented Gene and Steve Cate a plaque of appreciation at the PLTW Community Engagement meeting.
The upcoming Referendum also addresses needs for PLTW. The proposal includes an addition on the north side of the high school to improve and enlarge the Technology Education space and also includes adding a garage door to help move equipment and transport student projects with ease. New equipment could potentially be added to the space in addition to updating and modernizing existing equipment.
The district also has a PLTW goal to provide more opportunities for the community to see student work. An exciting PLTW project high school students will be working on this year will be designing, building and placing 10 Little Free Libraries around the Belleville community spring of 2017. If community members have the perfect place for a Little Free Library or for additional PLTW information, please contact PLTW teacher, Ed Neumann at neumanne@belleville.k12.wi.us. The district is looking forward to developing a community related project every year through PLTW and is excited for the expansion of PLTW this school year for grades K-12.