WHY TAKE ENGINEERING CLASSES?

REASONS TO TAKE ENGINEERING CLASSES AT GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL

WHY TAKE ENGINEERING CLASSES AT ANY SCHOOL?

To have fun! To work on cool high-tech projects! Nine out of the top 10 highest paying college majors are engineering! Make $45k - $100k right out of college, instead of just trying to find a job. To make the world a better place! Make renewable energy technologies more efficient! Make cars that pollute less and have better gas mileage! Cure diseases! Help the environment! Make technology more beautiful! etc. Engineers make many jobs for other people in manufacturing, construction, and many other industries.

ENGINEERING CLASSES AT GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL

Golden High School has more engineering classes than any other high school in Jefferson County!

AE Aerospace Engineering Class, BE Biotechnical Engineering Class, CEA Civil Engineering / Architecture Class, DE Digital Electronics Robotics Class, Engineering Design Class, Engineering Principles Class, and five Engineering Graphics Technology classes: 3D SolidModeling, Drafting General, Drafting Technical /Mechanical, Drafting CAD and Design, and Drafting Architectural.

PROJECTS FOR ENGINEERING CLASSES AT GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL

Students will do most or all of the following projects as time permits.

AE Aerospace Engineering (Offered On Odd-Numbered Years): Design, Build and test-fly a Glider project; Design a Commercial Airliner Project; Report on your favorite plane, helicopter; Design, Build and test-fly a mini-rocket; Design, Build and test-fly a water-rocket; Design, Build and test-fly a compressed-air rocket; Build and test-fly an Estes-type chemical rocket (Alpha rocket); Build and test-fly a Estes-type chemical rocket of your choice; Design, Build and test-fly a Rocket / Helicopter; Wing section design, built, test competition; Airfoil design, built, test competition; Flight Simulator; Combat Flight Simulator; RC Remote Control aircraft; Mars Lander Robot mission with VEX and/or Parallax robots

BE BIOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING (Offered On Odd-Numbered Years): CSI Forensics Techniques; DNA Modeling; Genetic Engineering and Gene Splicing; Fungi Bio-Fueled Model Car; Phyto-Engineering (Oil-Eating Bacteria); Orthopedic Implant Design; Hydroponics Aquaponics; Mechanical Robot Arm; Disease detective / disease propagation investigation

Civil Engineering / Architecture (Offered On Odd-Numbered Years): Shed design project; Lake House Project; Surveying; Soil testing and analyzing; Commercial Project design project; ArchiCAD Architectural Software; Build/Frame a model house, Design your own Dream house project; Build a model of your Dream House Project; Design, build & test alternative energy house model; Design, build, and test a model high insulating house, etc.

DE Digital Electronics Robotics (Offered On Even-Numbered Years): Learn Circuitmaker which you can load on your pc at home; Analog electronics; Digital logic Gates; Parallax Robots and/or VEX robots; Programming; Soldering; Take home projects – choose, simulate, breadboard and build a project you choose that you get to keep.

Engineering Design (Offered Every Year): SolidWorks 3D Solid Modeling Software; Egg Crash Container project thrown 30 to 100 yards with a catapult; Design, build and compete with a ballistic device, Cube Puzzle Project; CO2 Dragster Car – Design, Build, Race; RC Cars, Rat-Trap Powered Cars project; Hovercraft Project; Bridge Design and Building Project

Engineering Principles (Offered Every Year): Rube Goldberg Simple Machines Project; Fischertechniks Automation and Robotics Project; RoboPro Automation and Robotics Programming; Tower Design and Building Project / Competition; Ballistic Devices: Catapults, Trebuchets, Onagers, Ballistas; and Destructive testing.

3D SolidModeling Class (Offered Every Year): More information to follow.

Drafting 1 General (Offered Every Semester): Sketching; SolidWorks Solid Modeling Software, 2D CAD, 3D CAD, Solid Model Parts, Solid Model Assemblies, Isometric Views, Orthographic Views, Dimensioning and Drawings.

Drafting 2 Technical / Mechanical (Offered Every Semester): SolidWorks Solid Modeling Software, 2D CAD, 3D CAD, Solid Model Parts, Solid Model Assemblies, Isometric Views, Orthographic Views, Animations, FlowSim, Dimensioning, Auxiliary Views, Sectioning, Perspective Views, Sheet Metal Pattern Development, and Advanced 3D Solid Modeling Features.

Drafting 3 CAD and Design (Offered Every Semester): Students pick ten sufficiently challenging projects to work on for a semester, where they will do the following:

Drafting Architectural (Offered Every Semester): ArchiCAD Architectural Software; Log Cabin House, Dream House of your own design, Alternative Housing (Earth Berm, Straw Bale, etc.), Alternative Energy (Active and Passive Solar, Photovoltaic, Wind, Geothermal, Heat Pump, etc.), Floor plans, Elevations, Section Views, Perspectives, Electrical Plans, Plumbing Plans, Heating Systems, Cooling Systems, Structures, Detail and Drawings.

FUNDING

Golden High School has received more than $100,000 in grants for engineering classes from Federal sources, State sources, Perkins Funds, Red Rocks Community College, Air Force Association, Botball Educational Robotics Program, BEST Robotics, Golden Civic Foundation, Jeffco CTE, Office of Naval Research, GraphiSoft (ArchiCAD), PLTW Project Lead the Way, Golden High School Administration Department, Sparkfun Electronics in Boulder, various community donations and many other sources public, private and commercial. New sources of funding are found yearly.

EQUIPMENT

Dimension 3D Printer ($18,000), Roland MDX-40A CNC Mill ($10,000), Wind Tunnel ($5,000), Structural Stress Analyzer ($4,000), Laser Engraver ($7,000), 15 Vex Robots, 15 Parallax BOEbot Robots, 32 Windows 7 computers with 64 bit and 8 gig of memory, $10,000 in Fischertechniks automation and robotics, BOTball Educational Robots ($3,000), twelve Elenco Maxitronics Electronics kits, an 18 foot-tall steel trebuchet, and assorted metalworking, woodworking and plastic working machines, etc.

SOFTWARE

SolidWorks 3D Solid Modeling drafting software, ArchiCAD Architectural Software, MDSolids Structural Software, RoboPRO/Fischertechniks Software, Circuitmaker 6, Hexer, Convert, NASA software, DesktopAero, Easy C, Karnaugh Map Minimizer, Minim, Parallax Stamp Editor, etc.

TEACHER

Scott Aurand - BA Commercial Space Planning Kent State University. Designed offices, hospitals, restaurants, banks, residential, etc. Did $1 million-plus open-office space planning for Limited, Lane Bryant, Victoria's Secret, US Government, etc.

Bachelor of Science Degree from Metro State University of Denver in Industrial Technology

Trained to teach engineering classes to high school students by University of Colorado School of Engineering (since 2003), PLTW Project Led the Way (since 2003), STEM Academy (since 2011), MESA Math Engineering Science Achievement (since 2006), TSA Technology Student Association (since 2002), etc.

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

The Golden High School Engineering and Technology Department also has other classes than engineering. These Technology classes include Metals Technology I, and II, and Woods Technology I and II and are taught by Chris Plakorus.

ENGINEERING CLUB

The TEC Team or Engineering Club, competes in five to eight competitions per year. These include: MESA Math Engineering Science Achievement, Technology Student Association, Science Olympiad, Colorado School of Mines E-Days (Engineering Days), The Great American Fruitcake Toss in Manitou Springs (using our 18 foot-tall steel trebuchet that has one first place at CSM E-Days and at the Fruitcake Toss). We win an average of 10 medals and one or two trophies per year. Students can also earn a letter in engineering for their letter jackets.

IF YOU WANT TO BE AN ENGINEER, WHAT CAN YOU DO AT GOLDEN HIGH SCHOOL TO HELP THAT PROCESS?