Waseca High School looks to the future as it becomes the first school in Minnesota to adopt the Siemens Corporation’s Engineering Curriculum. This curriculum focuses on project and problem-based learning that follows the life cycle of real-life engineering projects from concept to design.
Traditional education has had trouble keeping up with the fast pace of change in the industry. By the time students have completed their education, much of what they have learned has become outdated. The Siemens curriculum aims to close this gap by engaging industry professionals in the educational process. This education gap hasn’t been lost on Waseca County officials.
“We have to be able to create a model that befits those specific individuals at that specific point in time, both where they’re at now, and where we want them to be in the future,” said Waseca County Administrator Michael Johnson. “The educational process needs to be nimble and fluid, as we’ve heard from our local industry partners, so it can operate at the speed of business.”
Jason Bruns, Director of the Minnesota State Engineering Center of Excellence, originally put the Siemens Curriculum in front of Waseca School District’s Director of Innovation and Career Pathways, Clink Link. Link kept his finger on the pulse of this opportunity and became a driving force that led to Waseca becoming the first school in Minnesota to adopt this innovative approach to engineering education.
When asked why Waseca is transitioning to this curriculum Link said, “The Siemens name is prominent in the engineering profession all around the world. Second, it is set up in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) format. PBL is a more team learning concept that is practiced in the professional world than individuals solving problems on their own. Lastly, I was very attracted to the online community to help support Bill Kuschel and any future Engineering instructor that we will have. Of course, the price was right as well!”
Bruns added that these changes were only possible because of the passion of the educators and the support of Waseca County.
“Success is driven by the passion of the educator. Within Waseca, they have that. Bill is passionate about what he teaches, he’s passionate about the students, and that will drive him to success,” said Bruns.
Kuschel has been teaching industrial technology since 2014 and has been a catalyst for continued improvement of the school’s STEM classes; first, with Project Lead the Way, and now with the Siemens curriculum.
“We have decided to participate in the Siemens STEM curriculum for a couple of reasons," Kuschel said. "First is the sense that this model of STEM/Engineering curriculum fits well with the manufacturing environment in our community. We have several manufacturing businesses in our community, and it is felt that this curriculum will fit well with the makeup of our community.
"A personal professional goal of mine is to collaborate more with the businesses in our community. By offering courses that align more closely with the manufacturing base here in Waseca, we can hopefully bridge the gap between school, industry, and careers. The second reason is that this is a cutting-edge curriculum that is being developed by industry leaders in STEM and especially engineering.”
Region Nine also played a key role in the process by connecting Bruns to Waseca High School. This was facilitated by Region Nine Economic Development Director Kristian Braekkan.
“Director Bruns from the Minnesota State Engineering Center of Excellence has been a great partner of RNDC for several years and Waseca Public Schools have been leaders in discussions on how to better support manufacturing and regional economic development over the last couple of years, and it was only natural for RNDC to make sure that these two entities sat down and talked about opportunities for collaboration,” said Braekkan.
Keeping an eye on the future and being able to adapt is a vital part of a thriving community. Waseca is showing the rest of the state that this can be accomplished with the combined efforts of city and county officials, local industry, and passionate educators.
Johnson added, “When we as a community apply that mentality to how we look at economic development, housing, tax base, law enforcement, public health, education, childcare, broadband, and transportation infrastructure we quickly find that they are all part of the same grander and intertwined whole. To sacrifice any one of them is to stagnate the sustainability of the whole.”
*Photo courtesy of Waseca Jr./Sr. High School
