Stewart Middle students describe hands-on engineering and marketing classes

Two Stewart Middle School students said the school's hands-on engineering and marketing classes teach technical skills, teamwork and career readiness.

Penelope, a sixth-grade student, said, "I love, like, the freedom and just being able to, like, build and just imagine." She described projects including "claw bots and swisher bots" for VEX competitions, flight simulators, bridge building and paper rockets. "We also build paper rockets that, we shoot out of a schedule 40 rocket launcher at about 70 PSI. They go about 300 feet," Penelope said. She added she had learned "how to wire, how to wax motors, and how to put things together."

Lisonbee Eastman, an eighth-grade student, said her Marketing 1 class with Ms. Armstrong focuses on computer skills, teamwork, presentation skills and pitching products. "Today, we were working on building our own product and making an elevator pitch for it," Eastman said. She said students in the class can earn certifications: "I've had 2 certifications. It's just really, like, helpful to get these certifications for the future. It also helps me with problem solving and just career readiness."

Both students framed the classes as pathways to future careers. Penelope said she would like to become an engineer and "build planes." Eastman said she hopes classmates leave Stewart Middle School believing they can pursue careers as engineers, pilots or astronauts.

Details provided by the students included specific classroom activities (robot builds, flight simulators, bridge projects), a paper-rocket launcher built from Schedule 40 pipe operated at about 70 PSI with rockets traveling about 300 feet, and two certifications earned by at least one student (certification types were not specified).