Students in Jemison High School’s engineering program are utilizing a new facility this year.

JHS instructor Brooke Elliott spearheaded efforts over the summer to transform a vacant classroom into the school’s permanent engineering lab with help from students, parents and community members, along with monetary and material donations from local and national entities.

“Great things are happening at Jemison, and students and parents are excited about this program,” Elliott said.

Last year was the first year for JHS to have an engineering program and robotics team, and students met in a computer lab.

Elliott and other volunteers worked on the vacant classroom this summer, patching holes in the concrete, painting the walls and cleaning, to ensure it was ready for students to use in August.

The city of Jemison donated $2,000 for furniture, the program received $1,100 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for equipment and students’ families and friends donated about $1,200.

In addition, the program received career tech funds from LeCroy Career Technical Center to help purchase curriculum supplies.

The school’s engineering program serves as a foundation for eighth and ninth grade students interested in taking advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes at LeCroy Career Technical Center.

“My class is like a foundations course,” Elliott said. “When they leave my class, they go to the career tech center.”

Elliott recently attended a two-week training intensive at Auburn University to become certified to teach introduction to engineering through Project Lead the Way, a provider of STEM education curricula in elementary, middle and high schools around the country.

PLTW offers project-based learning and facilitates teamwork among students and teachers, Elliott said.

“We’re unique as a rural district to have it,” Elliott said. “Everyone that was at the training was from a large district north or south.”

Elliott said her PLTW certification means that students in the JHS engineering class can take a PLTW certification test at the end of the school year, which will help them in their future job searches and could someday count for college credit.

“After school, they can go straight to business and industry and be certified,” Elliott said. “Going to the training and getting curriculum is so much better for the kids.”

For more information on Project Lead The Way, go to PLTW.org.