YC’s Math Teacher Takes on Two New Engineering Courses

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Gabrielle Chambers and Lilly Kind, Editor-in-chief and News Editor

 

There are  two new engineering based courses called “Innovations” and “Concepts of Engineering and Technology” (CoEt) lead by math teacher, Jordan Slavish. The two classes offer opportunities of insight into the engineering world for our YC students who are interested in this field.

 

Innovations focuses around technology and design within the 21st century. Slavish says how there isn’t any prior experience necessary. The students start at a level of basic programming and as the semester proceeds, will advance more and more.

 

The other course is CoEt. Within this course, they cover branches in engineering, such as Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, and Aeronautical, along with many others. Students are able to get an outlook on the engineering work field and how to get into it.

Charles Neuhauser, a CoEt student, enjoys the class. “My favorite part is that we have a small class and get directions well, and also I think the information is neat.” Neuhauser, overall,  finds the course interesting and straightforward.

 

Slavish states that both of these hands on courses are student lead with very little lecture time.   “Majority of the time I’m walking around asking questions and learning from the students just as much as they’re teaching me. If you offer a student a choice between reading a 400 page manual or grabbing the tools and figuring it out themselves, not only will they choose the tinkering option, they’ll be done in a tenth the time of the person reading the manual, and they’ll have figured out a few tricks along the way.” This is extremely beneficial to both the advisor and students as a two way street of learning.

 

Peyton Guinn, an Innovations pupil, gave insight on what the course is like in the eyes of a student. “One of my favorite parts is just the freedom of the class and seeing everyone’s games and creations.” She looks forward to perfecting a functional app.

 

Slavish looks forward to “the opportunity to bring students together at YCHS. We have students who are surrounded by very high end manufacturing tools, and we split into two very specific groups: kids who like to play with wrenches and grease, and kids who like to keep their pencils sharp and get grumpy when they get an A-”. He’d like to see the outcome that both of these groups are capable of when combining their strengths, and working together.

In a small school, it is limited to how many studies there are due to lack of funds and space for this. Some may think that the bigger the school the more opportunities. Slavish thinks that it’s more about skill rather than the budget. “I’m surrounded by big schools with huge budgets buying expensive toys, and there’s the expectation that we should be impressed. I’m not impressed when a billionaire buys another Ferrari – I’m impressed when the scrappy kid next door spends his entire high-school career restoring a 1965 mustang. We’ve got students who are incredibly interested in how things work, and I’d like to show what we can do.” Kids fascinated in this career will be able to get a start, and these classes will provide a huge step for our small school.