{"id":57872,"date":"2014-11-18T08:51:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T13:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=57872"},"modified":"2014-11-18T08:51:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T13:51:00","slug":"vwhs-program-earns-national-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2014\/11\/18\/vwhs-program-earns-national-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"VWHS program earns national certification"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>VWHS information<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Van Wert High School announced on Monday that it has received national certification for the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Biomedical Science program it has offered since 2011.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Vantage Career Center\u2019s satellite engineering program housed at Van Wert High School also received national certification (this is the second time the school has gone through the national certification process to validate its program). PLTW, a nonprofit organization and the nation\u2019s leading provider of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education programs, offers a rigorous world-class curriculum that allows students to apply what they are learning in math and science class to real-life biomedical science and engineering activities, projects and problems.\u00a0 PLTW also prides itself on high-quality professional development of its teachers and an engaged network of business, community and university partners to give students the fullest experience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_57873\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-57873\" style=\"width: 320px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/PLTW-Biomedical-Science-photo-11-2014.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57873 \" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" alt=\"Students in the Project Lead the Way Biomedical Science program work on a project. (photo submitted)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/PLTW-Biomedical-Science-photo-11-2014.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-57873\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students in the Project Lead the Way Biomedical Science program work on a project. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The national PLTW recognition program distinguishes schools for successfully demonstrating a commitment to PLTW\u2019s national standards. Additionally, certification as a PLTW school provides students with the opportunity to apply for college credit or receive college-level recognition at PLTW affiliate universities when they successfully complete select PLTW courses in high school. PLTW has more than 50 affiliate college, university and research partners.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In order to remain competitive in the global economy, America needs approximately 400,000 STEM college graduates annually, according to a National Business Roundtable report. Currently, the U.S. is graduating only 265,000 annually. PLTW is providing students with the skills, foundation and proven path to college and career success in STEM areas to increase the number of STEM graduates.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Clifton, principal of VWHS said, \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how the PLTW program draws more students into the biomedical sciences and engineering fields and gets them thinking about college and their careers. We are extremely proud to be PLTW certified and ecstatic that our students are eligible for college-level recognition, which may include college credit, scholarships and admissions preference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of the recognition process, VWHS Principal Bill Clifton<i> <\/i>and a team composed of teachers Chuck Rollins, Kathleen Overmyer, and Bob Spath, staff, students and members of the community submitted a self-assessment of the school\u2019s implementation of PLTW\u2019s Biomedical Science program. A site visit by a PLTW trained team followed. PLTW\u2019s team met with teachers, school administrators, counselors, students and members of the school\u2019s Partnership Team. A PLTW school\u2019s Partnership Team (sometimes referred to as an advisory council) is comprised of teachers, counselors, administrators, post-secondary representatives, business and industry professionals and other community members who actively support the PLTW program within a school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVan Wert High School should be congratulated for demonstrating once again its commitment to PLTW\u2019s quality standards,\u201d said PLTW President and CEO Vince Bertram. \u201cThe real winners here, however, are Van Wert\u2019s students.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u201cStudents benefit from PLTW\u2019s innovative, project-based curriculum that encourages creativity, problem solving and critical thinking,\u201d Bertram added. \u201cWe look forward to many more years of working together to prepare Van Wert students for the global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe beauty of PLTW courses is that our kids get to experience how a concept they learned in science applies to a real-world project,\u201d teacher Chuck Rollins said. \u201cIn class, there are no lectures &#8212; students are exploring the concepts of human medicine, mapping and analyzing DNA, and designing innovative solutions for the health challenges of the 21st century.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is the kind of hands-on experience that will engage more students in fields that they might otherwise never have considered,\u201d Rollins added.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on PLTW, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pltw.org\">www.pltw.org<\/a> or contact any of the teachers at Van Wert High School at 419.238.3350. In addition, those interested can contact Jennifer Cahill at the national office at 317.669.0871 or email <a href=\"mailto:jcahill@pltw.org\">jcahill@pltw.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>About PLTW<\/strong><br \/>\nProject Lead The Way (PLTW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the nation\u2019s leading provider of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs. PLTW\u2019s world-class, activity-, project-, and problem-based curriculum and high-quality teacher professional development model, combined with an engaged network of educators and corporate partners, help students develop the skills needed to succeed in our global economy. More than 5,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia currently offer PLTW courses to their students. For more information, visit <a href=\"file:\/\/\/\\\\pltwexchange\\shrfiles\\Communications\\Press\\press%20releases\\2012\\Duke_Biomed%20Affiliate\\www.pltw.org\">www.pltw.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VWHS information Van Wert High School announced on Monday that it has received national certification for the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Biomedical Science program it has offered since 2011. In addition, the Vantage Career Center\u2019s satellite engineering program housed at Van Wert High School also received national certification (this is the second time the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 08:10:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}