Engineering Design Certification Launched at BHS | Local News

BATESVILLE — The Batesville Community Education Foundation has added another program to give Batesville High School students an edge over their peers.

Thanks to a grant from BCEF, BHS students enrolled in Lead the Way project engineering courses will now have the opportunity to obtain an engineering design software user certification for free, announced BCEF Executive Director Anne Wilson. . BHS is one of the few high schools in the state that currently offers this testing opportunity.

“For several years, the BCEF has funded the certification costs of BHS students enrolled in Ivy Tech programs that culminate in an exam to prove competency in a certain area, such as certified practical nurses,” Wilson said. “It’s a tangible way for our foundation to help our students pursuing careers that require certification, so they don’t have to pay a dime for those tests. To date, we have provided BHS with just over $15,000 in certification reimbursement funding. When PLTW teacher Craig Hughes told us he wanted BHS to become an official testing center for design software exams so his students could become certified, we wanted to know more about the program to see if it would suit what we’ve already done.

Hughes attended the BCEF board meeting in April to present his proposal to members of the foundation. During his presentation, he highlighted how PLTW has long partnered with supplier Autodesk to integrate computer-aided design software into its programs to provide students with learning experiences that use the same industrial-grade software. used by engineers, designers, architects and fabricators. .

In BHS’s various engineering design courses, students use the software as a design tool for various activities, projects, and problems, such as designing a puzzle cube, designing laser-cut bridges, and water features for collecting plastic pollution. In the civil engineering course, students use the software to design, document, and create physical models of projects like a utility shed.

According to Hughes, earning this level of certification while in school will give students the confidence to continue to master Autodesk products and possibly pursue professional-level certification in the future. Additionally, these certifications will enhance their higher education applications and resumes by providing evidence of competence and mastery.

After learning more about Hughes’ plan, BCEF’s Board of Directors approved the addition of this new certification designation to its existing list of programs receiving annual support. Before the end of the school year, 23 of the Autodesk exams will be administered by Hughes at BHS, which will hopefully lead to certification for all candidates.

About Mark A. Tomlin

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