Congressman Takano Visits Heritage's STEM Building

Congressman Takano learns about the school's 3D printers from a Heritage student

Congressman Mark Takano, of California's 41st congressional district, visited Heritage High School to meet with students in the STEM building of the high school.

A former high school teacher himself, education has always been a high priority of Takano. Today, during his first ever visit to Heritage High School, Takano was given a tour of the new STEM building which features 3D printers, 3D scanners, a vinyl printer, laser cutters, a CAD lab, and is also the home to the Biomedical Project Lead The Way Program (PLTW).

"I am one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Maker Caucus and I am just impressed with the degree of which the administration and civil use of this school, are aligned with the important maker movement that's going on in our country," Takano said of Heritage's STEM program.

In a conversation with Heritage administration, Takano was impressed when he was told by Chris Rabing, the Director of Fiscal Services for the Perris Union High School District, that students could graduate Heritage with college credit already under their belts. Heritage offers five classes in engineering, that give their students an advantage over students graduating from competing high schools.

Administration officials have been interested in expanding their STEM program by bringing in consultants from companies such as Autodesk and Intel. A step like this could give their students an advantage of being more hirable, even as early as when they graduate high school.

A benefit to having this education that Heritage can provide, is that they can gain an elevated admissions status to some of the larger universities such as Cal Poly Pomona, University of Nevada Las Vegas,  and Wichita State, and could even get a priority enrollment into their engineering departments.

Schools that take place in Project Lead the Way, produce students that have nearly a 96 percent retention rate in the engineering field throughout their college career. This is compared to the 52 percent retention rate of a student, with no engineering background at the high school level.

"Any course you take through Project Lead the Way, if you get a certain grade and you have done what is required of the coursework, then you could apply for units from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)," Rabing told Takano, when he gave an overview of the program.

"The maker movement promises to bring manufacturing back to our country," Takano said after his tour of the STEM building. "The skills that these students are learning, are cutting edge skills that are going to enable them to be the workforce of the maker movement. Not just the workforce, but the makers in the maker movement.

"They're learning how to use high-tech manufacturing tools to become the inventors and makers of tomorrow. The future is already here today and from what I saw walking the halls of Heritage High School, is that the administrators, teachers, and the students are creating the future right."

After a brief talk with school officials, Takano took a tour of the school, specifically in the STEM building. The majority of the time he spent during this tour, was dedicated to talking to the students directly and learning more about what they are learning in the engineering programs.

Students of Heritage demonstrated robotics projects, 3D printing projects, and a couple of students even were able to make fast prototype of a clear plastic plaque that they presented to Takano, with his name and Heritage's logo on it (pictured left).

Director of Technology, Joseph Williams said that when there was a budget crisis in 2008, that they saw it as a budget opportunity. The school looked into spending money on what they considered important and with the help of a grant, they were able to build the STEM department that gave their students an advantage over others.

In summing up his experience of the visit, Takano said, "I think that if the public knew and frankly, more and more members of Congress knew, the kinds of strides that are being made right here in Perris Valley, that they would be tremendously optimistic about what our public schools can do. I'm just very proud that I represent this school and school district in congress."

Congressman Takano poses for a picture with school officials and STEM students of Heritage High School

Congressman Takano takes a moment to appreciate a robot made by students of the Heritage's robotics club