Remembering the last 30 days in PLTW

What a great start it has been this year.  North Surry High School entered the 2016 - 2017 school year with the largest number of PLTW students on record.  There are currently 94 students enrolled this semester taking either Introduction to Engineering, Principles of Engineering or Civil Engineering and Architecture.  Out of these 94 students, we have 25 Females on the roster. This is a huge gain for this program.  Many people are under the impression that Engineering is just for men.  So to have 26% of the students in the program be female, is a huge positive for the program.

The PLTW program would like to thank Austin Mcbride for coming and giving a presentation to the students on how his first year of college is going.  He is studying to be a nuclear engineer at State.  Austin was a 2 year student in the PLTW program here at North Surry.  He spoke about how the PLTW program has prepared him for what he is doing now in college.

We would also like to thank Emma Cassell for coming back and helping students in the POE class.  Emma is a 4 year graduate of PLTW and is currently studying at UNC Asheville to become a doctor in the radiation division.  Emma is a frequent volunteer in the PLTW classroom.

We would also like to congratulate Mason Taylor on changing his major to Technology Engineering at NC State.  He is wanting to continue the tradition in teaching PLTW to students across the state.  One day Mason will be one of the best PLTW teachers that there is.        

Spotlight of the week

In the first 30 days of school the PLTW program has already been the spotlight of the week on 100.9 WIFM.  Click on the link to take you to what students from the program said about PLTW.  Spotlight   There were 3 students that were chosen to speak on what their thoughts were about the first 30 days in their PLTW class. These Students did a terrific job describing how PLTW has helped them and will help them in the future.

Introduction to Engineering (IED)

Over the first few weeks of Introduction to Engineering (IED) the students were able to learn items like the design process, converting from one measurement system to another, sketching isometrics, sketching obliques, sketching multi view drawings, understanding the basic dimension rules, and we are just starting to learn inventor.  We were also able to finish our Puzzle cube project that went through the whole design process.  Below are some pictures of the student's work.  

       Dixie Fulk and Kaulin Smith's design of a new cup for her coffee or drinks.  This was completed on September 1st. The students had to develop a cup for a set user.  This cup had to have features on it that made the students think outside the box.    








This is Kassidy Puckett's one point perspective drawing that she completed.  This was completed on September 15th.  Kassidy did a great job in making sure that she took all of her depth lines back to the vanishing point.  The side windows and the doors are really tough to get right and Kassidy made it look easy.  

This is Austin York's multi-view drawing of one of his parts in his puzzle cube.  This shows his front, top, and right side view.  It also has his projection plane and his projection lines.  The isometric drawing in the top right corner is what the part looks like in 3D.  

 This is Logan Haynes Puzzle cube.  This is the finished prototype.  He designed this using Isometric sketches and multi-view sketches.  This puzzle cube is made up of 5 parts and all of the parts have to be interlocking to the cube.  This was designed for a 5 - 10 year old child to play with.  But, this puzzle cube is so good that some teenagers can not put it together.  

This is one of Brady Hatcher's Inventor drawings of his puzzle cube.  This was before he added his dimensions to the part.  You can also see in this picture that Brady has developed a title block for this project.  He developed a template that he will be using all semester.    

Principles of Engineering (POE)

3rd Period POE North Surry High School

4th Period POE North Surry High School

Principles of Engineering has been lots of fun this semester.  The students have got to learn many new things.  We currently have 47 students enrolled in POE this semester.  This is the largest group of students that our program has had over the last 5 years.  With all of these students, the county made a decision to buy 7 new VEX kits for our students.  Now we have a total of 14 VEX kits.  This is allowing our students to work in groups of 3 to 4 instead of having to work in groups of 6 to 7. The students are able to learn more in the smaller groups than in the larger groups.  From the North Surry PLTW program we would like to give a huge thank you to the Surry County CTE director and Board of Education for allowing us to purchase these kits.  Over the last 30 days in POE, students have learned the basics about many different engineering disciplines.  The students have also learned about simple machines, gears and how to calculate them; as well as pulley systems, mechanisms, circuits and ohms law, design processes, thermodynamics and centroids.  Below are some examples of student work in POE class.

This is a hydrogen fuel cell car that the students worked on.  It is ran off of a solar Panel.  

There are many different videos and tweets on the North Surry High School Twitter page.  To get to this page search #northsurryhighschoolPLTW on twitter.  Or just click on the link.  


         One of the biggest days of Elli Sutphin's life happened during the last 30 days, as well.  Elli is a 9th grader and this is her first year taking a PLTW class.  She has excelled in her POE class while traveling around the state playing basketball.  On October 2nd, she verbally committed to playing Division 1 basketball at NC State.  Congrats goes out to Elli.