(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, CA) So many exciting things are happening at Pershing!  Let's begin with our Pre-Engineering Gateway to Technology class taught by Ms. Candice Cooke.  This new and innovative course is designed by Project Lead the Way, a non-profit organization established to incorporate math and science into project based learning. Pershing's Pre-Engineering class desires to forge a new generation of engineers by giving them the knowledge and skills to exceed in the high tech fields of science, engineering, and engineering technology.

 Exposing students to the field of engineering challenges them to think and apply learning in an innovative and technological way.  Offering this class at the middle school level allows students to be exposed to the field of Engineering through four units of study: Science & Technology, Design and Modeling, Magic of Electrons, and Automation and Robotics.  Within each unit, there are projects that are produced by the students that exhibit their learning process in a creative way.

 During the ninety-minute periods, students at the sixth, seventh and eighth grade levels are engaged in learning and asked to apply and demonstrate their recently learned  knowledge through specific projects. The projects are the basis for helping to build excitement and a desire for students to pursue a career in engineering.  Students have created projects such as air racers, Rube Goldberg Mousetrap machines, and one-two-three point perspective drawings; all which tie into engineering, science and technology.