Technology Education Inspires Passion for STEM Among Middle Schoolers on Bosco Tech Campus

July 5, 2012 - PRLog -- For 150 local elementary and middle school students, Don Bosco Technical Institute’s (Bosco Tech’s) five-week, intensive Tech Scholar program is providing an introduction to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

The unique curriculum includes science workshops, a course in computer science and electrical engineering, and an introductory algebra course. The seventh and eighth grade Tech Scholars, for whom tuition is free, are selected to participate through a competitive process, based on an aptitude for, and interest in, science and math.

In its third year, the hands-on, lab-based curriculum has doubled in size amidst rave reviews from participating students and their parents, as well as the students’ elementary and middle schools.

“With exposure to new technology, and the way it has transformed youth culture, we must provide young people with experiences in applied science and math,” explains Rudy Herrera, Bosco Tech’s director of admissions who runs the Tech Scholar program. “We’re are providing a solution to the lack of interest in the sciences, addressing a definite need throughout our country to expose younger kids, specifically minority kids, to STEM education.”

Currently, only 15 percent of U.S. college graduates pursue engineering or computer science degrees, compared to nearly 70 percent in China, India and Eastern Europe. Nationally, STEM programs focus primarily on high school-level education, but through the Tech Scholars program, Bosco Tech is focusing on elementary school-aged children, believing that they will benefit from early exposure to science and technology.

“We want to ignite the imagination and excitement of our young people for the sciences while also providing an essential liberal arts foundation,” says Herrera. “Sixty percent of our recent high school graduating class will major in STEM-related fields next semester in colleges and universities across the country.”

Bosco Tech is the only all-male Catholic high school in the state that uniquely integrates college-preparatory and technology education. The academic curriculum allows students to exceed university admission requirements while completing extensive integrated coursework in one of five technology and engineering-related fields: Architecture and Construction Engineering; Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Integrated Design, Engineering and Art; Materials Science, Engineering and Technology; and Media Arts and Technology.  For further information about Bosco Tech, please call (626) 940-2000 or visit www.boscotech.edu.