On Wednesday, B-CC received the 2023-2024 PLTW Distinguished School Award from Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a national recognition of student access, engagement, achievement, and overall excellence within their PLTW programs. This award was presented to 300 high schools around the country, four of which were high schools in Montgomery County.
Project Lead the Way is a national nonprofit organization that serves millions of PreK-12 students and teachers in over 12,200 schools across the U.S., aiming to make every student in every grade STEM successful. To receive this recognition, a school must meet the participation requirements set by PLTW. At least 25 percent of students in a school had to have participated in PLTW High School courses last school year or at least 33 percent of those students who participated also took at least one other PLTW course during the school year or earlier. Additionally, a school must have procedures to address equity and support the representation of minority groups. Then, the school must apply for this award to be considered.
Ms. Blanford, the career and technology resource teacher at B-CC, expressed that she was, “blown away and thrilled,” when she received the news. Blanford started working at B-CC six years ago, however, the PLTW program at B-CC looked very different. She was the only teacher and instructed three sections of Introduction to Engineering Design (IED), one section of Principles of Engineering (POE), and one section of Aerospace Engineering (AE). Now, the program at B-CC has four full-time teachers and offers two additional courses: Digital Electronics (DE), and Engineering Design and Development (EDD). There are eight sections of IED, three sections of POE, two sections of DE, two sections of AE, and two sections of EDD.
“I would highly recommend this program. I think it’s great even if you’re not interested in engineering…I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and through these classes I’ve figured out exactly what I am passionate about. I’ve learned also a lot of skills in general, like public speaking and making spreadsheets, different things that are very helpful in life,” senior Sydney Seiler stated. “There’s no one in this class that doesn’t want to be in this class, or that was just taking it as a requirement. The vast majority of people are here because they really like engineering-related stuff…it’s totally unlike any other class at B-CC,” said senior Nick Kreidler regarding EDD.
“[Students] have the ability to say, ’I went to a Project Lead The Way recognized school,’” Blanford stated, noting that this award means a lot to her and also to the students.
