Free College credits through Project Lead the Way

Students interested in getting college credit without ever leaving the high school might want to look into the Project Lead the Way classes. The group of classes teaches the basics to certain types of engineering. While none of the Project Lead the Way classes are listed as AP classes, they do still give you college credit.

Jesse Samarziya teaches digital electronics along with civil engineering and architecture. In digital electronics you learn about electrical circuits, like the ones in the electronic billboards. The class also works with robotics, however it mainly teaches back ground information.

In civil engineering and architecture, you get to use technologies that are used all over the world. Students learn how to build design software and buildings. In civil engineering and architecture class one of the projects students design their own house step by step and then at the end they get to see it comes together.

George Lehman teaches principles of engineering. In principles of engineering students get a basic intro to how things work. The class’s main focus is hydraulics and mechanical fields. Students learn how pieces of a car work. This class is very similar to a college engineering class just slightly less in depth.

Michael Lidhom teaches intro to engineering and design. In engineering and design class you do technical drawings and I-symmetric drawings. The design processes gets explained. This is the only Project Lead the Way class freshmen are allowed to take.

Johnathan Finkbeiner, a junior who has taken 3 out of the 4 Project Lead the Way classes, and is planning on taking another one year. Finkbeiner has been an A student in all of the three classes he has taken so far.

“I would recommend these classes to anyone with even a minor interest in engineering. They’re fun and as long as you stay caught up you shouldn’t run into too many problems,” Finkbeiner said.

Project Lead the Way classes aren’t like typical classes where the teacher is lecturing from a book. Project Lead the Way classes are much more hands on. Some students are taking these classes as a fall back for other careers that might not work out, students like sophomore Zack Reiswig. While Reiswig said he thinks the Project Lead the Way classes are classes worth taking and engineering a career worth having, he would first like to try to achieve his dream of becoming a professional hockey player.

Most students in Project Lead the Way said that if our school could somehow get more advanced classes in this area they would gladly take them. Project Lead the Way classes can only be taken by students once, but if a student passes the class with an 85 percent or higher and a final test score of 62 percent or higher they get 3 college credits. The credits are accepted in almost any engineering college. For students want to get a jump on this ever expanding and changing career field try signing up for one of the 4 Project Lead the Way classes next year. According to most students, joining is not a decision likely to be regretted.

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