Students who enter a STEM program of study within Leander ISD’s Career and Technical Education program have the opportunity to gain skills and certifications that will prepare them for highly marketable computer science, engineering and cybersecurity professions.
“One of my favorite things about the engineering program is that it’s very hands-on,” Vista Ridge High School Student Neil Baret said.
The STEM programs offer classroom experience and feature guest speakers and industry field trips. Some students receive internships where they gain marketable experience outside of the classroom.
“It’s been really exciting being in the computer science classes. I’ve gotten a lot of different experience programming in Python, in Scratch and in Java,” Vandegrift High School Student Amelia Nickerson said.”And I’ve learned a lot of cool things about how to apply my skills and code my own projects as well.”
Glenn High School Student Alejandro Perez said that the Computer Science program of study has taught him skills aside from coding – for example, exploring a variety of solutions to a problem, rather than assuming that there’s only one.
“So computer science is mainly programming, yes, line after line of code, the nitty-gritty, finding solutions to problems, all of that,” Perez said. “But I’ve also learned to think logically.”
STEM Cluster Programs of Study
- Programming and Software Development: Computer Science Studies
- Programming & Software Development: App Development (MobileMakerEdu)
- Biomedical Science PLTW
- Engineering PLTW
- Cybersecurity
