C4 Columbus Area Career Connection

“Purdue is great! I am so happy I chose engineering. I will enter the school of mechanical engineering officially next fall. It has all been rather challenging in the honors college, but I can honestly say that I still love it. And I wanted to thank you, seeing as the knowledge I gained from your classes has been invaluable thus far, putting me far ahead of my classmates in various subject areas. So thank you so much!”

Emma Alexander, East High School, 2014 Graduate

“Purdue is great I love it! I thought you would probably enjoy knowing that your class has really helped out. As much as I hate saying it, we don't have notebooks, but I have a whole class with that kind of thing and formatting your drawings and notes, I can send you some stuff if you want to prove everybody in your class wrong. Also, the first software we are using in my CGT class is Autodesk Inventor, and from the sound of the lecture today, anybody in your classes will be ahead of the game in that. I think I personally could probably just test out of it. And I also have a class which it's completely based off that video of the IDEO company with the shopping cart that I'm pretty sure you made us watch about 20 times, but the room is based off the company so we have TVs to connect out computers to and white boards everywhere, designed by the head guy from IDEO. I just thought you might want to share some of this stuff with your classes so maybe they won't think you’re as crazy as we all did; we love you Mr. Megel!”

Jake Stewart, North High School, 2013 Graduate

“From a young age, I really liked math and science. Naturally, this meant that I was supposed to be an engineer or scientist – or did it? The prospects of being an engineer sounded alright to me, but what did I really know about engineering? My sophomore year, I signed up for Introduction to Engineering and Design (IED), the introductory course of the PLTW engineering curriculum. I wanted to put engineering (or an engineering experience) to the test to see if this was actually right for me. The short answer to this was a resounding “yes”; engineering seemed right to me. I enjoyed IED and engineering so much I went on to take all five of the PLTW engineering classes that are offered.”

“But why did these classes interest me so much? It wasn’t the math and science. It was what I believe engineering is at its core – problem solving. I was presented with real-life problems with hands-on and (relatively) wide-open projects to find some sort of solution. There really was no right or wrong answer, much like the challenges that professional engineers face on a daily basis. Organizational and critical-thinking skills are developed from the first day in the class. Many of the projects in the classes were team based, which provided opportunities to learn what it is like to work on teams and develop not only interpersonal skills, but also leadership and communication skills that aren’t developed in everyday classroom settings.”

Mathew Prall, North High School, 2011 Graduate

My name is Breanne Gibson; I graduated from Columbus East in 2012 with Academic and Technical Honors. I am studying Organizational Leadership and Supervision and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. In high school I took four years of the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses offered through the C4 program. PLTW introduced me to engineering and I have loved it ever since. PLTW courses have prepared me for the concepts presented in college engineering courses, taught me valuable critical thinking skills, and has provided me with some great opportunities.

                The PLTW courses provide a good starting place for those who are interested in engineering or just want to see what engineering is all about. I have found that the concepts that were covered in my PLTW courses have been reflected in the engineering courses that I have taken. Which has given me a leg up on the rest of my classmates who did not participate in a program like PLTW.

                PLTW teaches you to think critically about problems and their solutions. Critical thinking is an invaluable skill in college and something that all of your professors will stress. I have had an easier time in college analyzing problems in engineering and writing reports for English because PLTW prepared me.

                Taking PLTW not only prepares you for college and engineering courses it also can provide opportunities that you would only receive later in college. After graduating I was hired by Cummins as a drafter for their High Horse Power program. I worked as a drafter for almost 2 years before moving on to working as a laboratory operations assistant and part time technician. I am currently creating testing procedures, mapping important processes, and working with people from around the world (Germany and India) to improve our processes. This summer I have the opportunity of being an intern for Cummins.

Bre Gibson, East High School, 2012 Graduate

“I wanted to tell you how closely related your class is to what I am doing right now at Olivet. Just today we got assigned 10 orthographic drawings and all of it is stuff I have seen in your class. Our professor also assigned a paper and yes that's due Mon as well. The point of me emailing you this is to try to encourage your students to be on time and not look at engineering as just a fun class but as a class that can directly relate to their future.”

Preston Shelton, North High School, 2012 Graduate

"When I first decided to take Project Lead the Way classes at North, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career at the time. Since I saw engineering as a possibility, I decided to enroll in PLTW. My first class had me design 3D objects using a program on the computer. I thought it was the coolest thing when I created the Ford Mustang logo into a 3D object and had it printed out. My other classes had me working with electronic circuits, building bridges, and making programs that assorted different colored marbles into separate bins. We also went on many fun field trips where we went to different colleges across the state and competed in different challenges. These classes did 3 things for me. First of all, they helped show me that engineering was the career path that I wanted to pursue. Second, they gave me experience in working with programs that I am using currently in my college level engineering courses like Solidworks. Lastly, they even helped me decide which specific engineering major I wanted to pursue in Mechanical Engineering. The variety of projects we worked on gave me a sample of what each major would involve. Also when I came to my teacher Mr. Megel with the same questions on a career path, he helped me understand what I enjoy doing the most and what major I should probably go with. I have no idea where I would be today if it weren’t for my PLTW classes. I highly recommend them to anyone who is considering the engineering field at all."

Troy Federle, North High School, 2011 Graduate