THE FACE OF
AMERICA’S NEXT
ENGINEERS
Why West Catholic’s Approach
to STEM is Paying Off
If your average students were offered a track of courses focused solely on engineering, how
many do you think would enroll? One in ten? One in twenty? Fewer?
Try twenty-five percent.
That’s how many are signing up for the Engineering Technology Academy, according to Ryan
Baxter, elective teacher at West Catholic Preparatory High School.
The program, which was launched in 2013 in collaboration with Drexel University, has rapidly
expanded from what began as a single cohort of 18 students. The Engineering Technology
Academy (ETA) was created to mimic the learning rotation model at Dos Pueblos Engineering
Academy in Goleta, CA, where students combine a set of skill building exercises in electronics,
design, and manufacturing to create custom, high-quality projects.
Since its initial year, ETA offerings at West Catholic Prep have broadened and deepened into
a wider array of academic, practical, and vocational courses. The program is now designed
to give students of all backgrounds a clear track for successful careers in STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics).
“The purpose of ETA was to provide an outlet for students who were skilled with their hands
and students who were also good at math,” says Baxter, a Drexel graduate and Philadelphia-
area teacher for over eight years.
“We were looking for ways to apply student learning that also supported their career
development. And in the same breath, the manufacturing industry in the Greater Philadelphia
area was looking to welcome that same type of student into their workforce,” he continues.
“So we envisioned something like an apprenticeship that connects students to both the design
and the manufacturing aspects of technology.”
“
This program brought me closer to engineering and made
me want to major in mechanical engineering in college,
because I liked working with the machines.”
Cindy, Grade 10