Wall Board Of Education Receives Update On Engineering Academy

WALL, NJ – At Tuesday night’s Wall Township’s Board of Education meeting, an update was given on Wall High School’s Pre-Engineering Academy.

The academy’s two directors, Dan Leonard and Dan Pierce, along with Jack Alexander, a senior in the academy, spoke to the board about the academy and the progress that it has made since being approved in 2013.

The academy usually gets around 40 applicants a year, of which only 24 get accepted.

“The goal of the academy is to incorporate a rigorous and challenging curriculum that will increase technological literacy as well as prepare students for post-secondary education and ultimately a career in the fields of engineering, technology, or science,” Leonard said.

While students take classes that are more STEM-focused, including AP-level courses in statistics, environmental science, physics, and calculus, the pre-engineering academy also makes sure that each of its students is ready to move on to college on a social level.

“All of our students leave with a solid resume and interview skills,” Leonard said. “We want polished students when coming out of the program, and when they get to college, they are more prepared than their peers.

Leonard feels that this is achieved with an advisory board that consists of local businesses that help steer the curriculum towards what is needed in the real world, plus the added focus on networking.

“Networking after graduation might be the most valuable aspect of the program,” Leonard said.

“They are coming from a comprehensive high school and are more prepared than the graduates from private schools.”

Jack Alexander, who is graduating from the academy this year and is heading to Virginia Tech to study architecture, said that besides the education, being in the academy helped give him the social skills needed to be as successful as he is.

“More importantly than the academics is the social skills I couldn’t have developed without being in the pre-engineering academy,” Alexander said.

Leonard said that the academy is looking forward to the future and making sure to continue producing the more qualified students available.

“We have a fluid and evolving curriculum with an emphasis on robotics and computer science along with collaborations with colleges and universities and increasing our professional development and networking opportunities,” Leonard said.