Truman STEM Program Helps Area Students Succeed

“It’s been a great seven years for our program,” Truman High School Teacher Cosmo Diliegro told LevittownNow.com last week.

Diliegro has been a teacher for the district for the last 15 years and has helped champion the district’s Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program. Bristol Township School District’s STEM program has been heavily regarded as one of the best in the local area.

A huge reason for their success is their coveted membership with Digital Promise, which specifically recognizes 11 districts each school year within the country that are committed to education through innovation. This Fall, Digital Promise selected BTSD to join the team.

“Bristol Township is proud to be a member of the League,” said Superintendent Samuel Lee. “This exciting opportunity will surely complement the innovative 21st century learning initiatives that have been introduced throughout the district.”

Bristol Township is the only school district to be recognized in Bucks County and joins Avonworth School District as one of two recognized in the state of PA.

It’s thanks to dedicated staff like Diliegro to keep Bristol Township on the forefront of STEM education.

Diliegro began his work as a civil engineer, serving as the resident township engineer for Falls Township before beginning his teaching career at Armstrong Middle School over a decade ago.

“I came to [Truman] in 2008 with the goal of creating a first-rate engineering program for the students,” Diliegro said while assisting a team of students during his Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) class. Diliegro, who assists the robotics club and acts as assistant coach to the boy’s varsity soccer team, began the honors introductory class back in 2009 as part of a conjunction with Project Lead the Way (PLTW).

“The impact of the PLTW courses have been impressive. Students are seeing a connection between prior knowledge and application. Their problem solving skills are being expanded, which is precisely what employers of the future want. Employees who can problem solve and innovate,” said Diliegro.

Since, the school district has been successful at introducing a variety of new options for students interested in the field. The Principles of Engineering (POE) course began in 2010, Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA) began in 2011 and Digital Electronics (DE) began in 2012. A capstone engineering program, designed for seniors in handling college engineering classes is set to begin next year.

According to PLTW, the percentage of Bristol Township high school students now enrolling in engineering courses has increased by 33 percent in just five years.

The projects that students complete in class are always being redeveloped, changing with the times to keep students and staff on their toes.

Last week, Diliegro worked with students on creating a tangible and digital combination of a Rubik’s cube and Tetris block using Autodesk Inventor.

“Computer language isn’t the easiest to understand, but these kids seem to pick it up right away,” Diliegro said. “The project is a lesson in orienting the computer to do what your hands would normally do.”

Diliegro made a conscious effort to visit with each student during the class period, time and time again while they worked on their project, answering questions and providing helpful feedback – making sure to get each student on the same page before moving on.

“Now that I got the hang of it, it’s easy,” Senior Jamie Price said. Price is having her first go at engineering classes this year. “Other years I felt like programs like this weren’t offered or I needed to take other things,” she said.

Anne Estrella, another senior in Diliegro’s class, said she’s focused on submitting applications to colleges at this point and that science is the field that’s grabbed her the most.

Truman STEM students do have the advantage of getting a jump-start on college. If students receive an 80 or above on a national exam at the end of the course, they will earn three college credits from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). That means what could normally cost students around a thousand dollars for a class, will cost Truman students just $250.

Diliegro told LevittownNow.com he’s had over 20 students who have started STEM classes at Truman and gone on to study engineering at various prestigious colleges. “To me that’s amazing,” he said. “Engineering and technology are very viable industries for employment.”

Diligero couldn’t be more correct, of the 56 million college students graduating, only 20 million will be qualified to hold a STEM career. Currently, computer science is one of the fastest growing STEM related fields, with over 1.4 million computing jobs estimated to be available by 2020.

While Diliegro has maintained the coursework is difficult, he insists to all his students that it’s worth it.

“There are things we’re doing in these classes that I didn’t have until my second year of college,” Diliegro noted.

The coursework, while difficult, remains cutting edge and accessible to students. All the coursework is online, making itself available to students through their phones or computers. “Very little is on paper anymore,” Diliegro said.

Just recently, under the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) program, FDR and Armstrong middle schools obtained more than 1,000 tablets, donated by the nonprofit Digital Promise through a grant from the Verizon program.

Every teacher and student in both schools now have access to a tablet device and a free 2-year, 5 GGB data plan – this will enable them to have access to the internet and innovative learning opportunities 24-7.

Starting students with the program early is a primary goal of Diliegro’s – which is why he routinely visits the middle schools to inform them of the exciting high school programs. “If we can start students at an early age towards a STEM thought process, than we can help bridge the gap this country has,” he said.

Diliegro, of course speaks of the 44 percent of 2013 US high school graduates who were ready for college level math, 36 percent of which were ready for college level science, according to the National Math and Science Initiative.

In the Fall of 2013, PLTW was introduced in middle school classrooms with the help of a $30,000 grant from Dow Chemical to the BTSD. Seventh grade students now have access to the Design and Modeling course, while Eighth grade students have access to the course Automation and Robotics.

“What I find most exciting is when students see the connection when they use prior knowledge and apply it to what we do in class. The Design and Modeling students enjoy drawing, both on paper and in the Autodesk Inventor program, and the Automation and Robotics students enjoy building the robots the best,” said Bruce Wood,  a middle school teacher for the district.

The district is even in talks to bring the STEM curriculum, in an appropriate manner, to the elementary schools.

The Bristol Township School District had the following to say in a recent press release:

As the global economy places new demands on the future workforce, the Bristol Twp. School District is responding with the appropriate, targeted programs and initiatives. These efforts are not only transferring skills and providing training that are essential for the 21st century, but they are also constructing an invigorating and rigorous learning environment that is creating excitement and interest  in STEM careers among students.