The first aerospace engineering program being taught at an Iowa high school has just begun at the Highland School District.

This four-year program is offered by the Southern Regional Education Board High Schools That Work – Advanced Career program and was funded for Highland in part by a $60,000 Washington County Riverboat Foundation grant. The class is being taught by industrial arts teacher Brian Haymond and science teacher Tim Surine, who were trained on the program for two weeks this summer at Auburn University in Alabama. The class is open to all freshman through seniors who can explore the designing, building, testing, and analyzing science behind the forces and physical properties of planes, rockets, and unmanned vehicles.

Haymond explains how this program encompasses several skills, “The one thing I really liked about the whole concept was the fact that we had literacy standards, science standards, math standards, all in one package for each group that’s all involved.”

Ninth grade student Noah Oriano shares how this class can prepare him for the real world, “Since it’s supposed to be a reference or an example to real life work and it gives you those skills and stuff it makes you have a feeling for what working in an engineering field as a designer actually would be in real life.”

The students will complete six projects during the program’s first year, such as building rockets, gliders, a pilot seat, and kites, all to industry standards. Students who complete the entire program may become a Certified LabVIEW Associate Developer and may be prepared for earning other relevant industry certifications.