El Segundo High rolls out new biomedical program

El Segundo High School will roll out a new biomedical science program next school year, continuing to strengthen its technical curriculum just two years after starting an engineering program.

Like the engineering program, the biomedical program is spread over four years of high school. Both programs, called STEM for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, have been very popular, said El Segundo Principal Jim Garza.

About 70 students have already signed up for the biomedical courses, and a third section may be added to accommodate additional demand.

“In general, students and parents were both asking for more STEM-related classes,” Garza said. “And then also there’s big push nationally and state-wide for more support and to encourage students to go into STEM-related careers. What we’re trying to do is create these opportunities for students to learn.”

The biomedical science program is being funded by the El Segundo Education Foundation, through a grant by the Murad Corporation, Garza said.

One of the school’s classrooms will be renovated to accommodate the biomedical program, with a new lab with computers and lecture hall component similar to the engineering lab that Chevron refurbished for the school’s engineering program. Both programs are part of Project Lead The Way, a corporate sponsored education initiative to bring STEM courses to more students throughout the country. El Segundo’s biomedical and engineering programs include three specific courses for the first three years and culminate with students pursuing an independent project in the fourth year.

The first year of the biomedical program will begin in the fall with the course Principles of Biomedical Sciences in which students investigate human body systems and various health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, etc. Students will study Human Body Systems in the second year and Medical Intervention in the third year.

“We’re removing that fear factor some students have for STEM-related careers, and really just try to get in general more kids interested in them, especially underrepresented groups, including females. That’s a big push of ours,” Garza said.

The engineering program was originally envisioned about five years ago, but the school district didn’t have the funds, Garza said. Then Chevron expressed interested in sponsoring the program, which included renovating the old woodshop, and donated $300,000 in 2010 and $200,000 in 2011, with another as yet unspecified contribution coming this year, said Lily Craig, a Chevron spokeswoman.

The engineering program isn’t exclusively for high school students either. Many seventh- and eighth-graders take Gateway to Technology at 6:45 a.m. before shuffling off to the middle school afterward.

Next year will be the third year of the engineering program, and a committee of community members, parents and students, faculty and administration has recently decided to make Aerospace the third-year course over other options that included civil engineering, computer integrated manufacturing, and digital electronics, said Superintendent Geoff Yantz.

“The committee recommended going with aerospace engineering, for obvious reasons of where we are,” Yantz said. The aerospace engineering course will delve into evolution of flight, navigation and control, flight fundamentals and aerospace materials, propulsion and orbital mechanics.

“It’s a very high level of aerospace engineering concepts,” Yantz said. “The kids are just jazzed by it. It’s what really schools should be about.”

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