First Warren Twp. pre-engineering students graduating

The first students to participate in the pre-engineering program at Warren Township High School's Almond Campus are preparing to graduate.

In August 2006, Warren was the first high school in Lake County to offer pre-engineering through the national program called Project Lead the Way. A four-year sequence of courses centered around engineering technology and problem solving is in place to prepare students who must commit to the program as incoming freshmen. Classes are included in the regular schedule of required high school courses.

Currently, there are 312 students enrolled in Project Lead the Way at Warren Township High School, and 120 freshmen will be accepted for the 2010-2011 school year.

"When we first started PLTW, it was not only new to us, but also new to the Midwest. We knew that students could earn college credit, but beyond that were unsure about scholarships or college placement. Now, as our pioneering group is graduating, we are seeing scholarship opportunities available for being in PLTW. Several students have been accepted to top engineering schools like University of Illinois, Purdue, Bradley, Milwaukee School of Engineering and MIT. The universities are now aware that students who have experience through PLTW understand the rigors of engineering curriculum and have a wealth of hands-on learning experience," said Ryan McCabe, an industrial technology instructor at Warren who helps organize the program.

Seniors who are the first to graduate are: Mya Banks, Rebecca Adamczyk, Lisa Burns, Jamie Barber, Sims Chacko, Maria Basith, Phillip Chau, Austin Bisk, Neeraj Chemurkar, Ryan Brown, Joe Czerniewski, John Campbell, Renon Defensor, Dean Camposogrado, Alex Dressler, Danielle Friedl, Kia Dumas, Andrew Hagberg, Jacob Jurewica, Mickey Hathuc, Danny Kenney, Aaron Hoffman, Tony Moore, Alex Horne, Robert Moy, Syed Hussain, Michael Patterson, Pat Johnson, Manny Rodriguez, Timothy Kamman, Kyle Shwede, Riley Karlstrand, Juan Siera, Christo Miller, Michael Tsoflias, Zach Nitch, Joe Urh, Eric Notson, John Villaluz, Justin Saul, Lauren Stredler, Jeremy Tessitore, Austin Thompson, and Josh Zamudio.

Each senior is required to design and develop a project followed by a 25-minute presentation before a panel of engineering professionals.