Natomas High School students have built a prosthetic arm for lifting a bucket, a conveyor belt for dropping chocolate chips on cookies, and a 16-foot-long piano for playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
These and other creative projects have been tackled by NHS students in recent years as part of a challenging academic program for students interested in a STEM education – an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The goal is to provide students with expertise and teamwork skills needed to compete in the 21st century global marketplace.
“It’s amazing to see what they do,” said Kim Knestrick, who not only teaches engineering at NHS but has advised teams of students that have won awards in Northern California robotics competitions.
“To see them learn, to see them feel good about themselves – that’s the main reason you teach,” said Knestrick, who added that students develop engineering, physics, teamwork and communication skills along the way.
Engineering classes are part of a specialized NHS academy that separately offers a biomedical strand, introducing students to lab equipment and scientific principles needed to pursue careers as doctors, researchers, biochemists or in related fields.
In NHS’ Principles of Biomedical Science Class, for example, students are given a plot that could have come directly from the CSI television show – the death of a fictional 43-year-old woman, Anna, forcing them to consider blood, DNA, medical history and other evidence in investigating how she died.
Alysia Lopez, 15, said she enrolled in the academy’s biomedical strand because her dream is to become an oncologist, a cancer doctor, in part because her grandmother suffered from and overcame breast cancer.
“It fascinates me how some can overcome it and some can’t,” said Alysia, who hopes to attend UC Berkeley someday. “One little cell can ruin your future.”
Engineering student Shimran Devi said the NHS program has “actually shaped my dreams and aspirations.”
Student Aidan Freeman Butalla, 16, encourages others to give STEM a try.
“I believe it’s a perseverance thing more than a skill thing,” he said. “Just keep trying.”
Once they finish the NHS academy, teacher Cherise Orozco said, “They’re ready for the rigor of college-level work.”
