The Engineering Program began at SJB in 2019-2020, this program of study empowers students to step into the role of an engineer, adopt a problem-solving mindset, and make the leap from dreamers to doers. The activities not only build knowledge and skills in engineering, but also empower students to develop essential skills such as problem solving, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and perseverance.

Through both individual and collaborative team activities, projects, and problems, students will solve problems as they practice common engineering design and development protocols such as project management and peer review. In addition, the development of computational methods that are commonly used in engineering problem solving, including statistical analysis and mathematical modeling, are emphasized. Ethical issues related to professional practice and product development are also presented. Utilizing the activity-project-problem (APB) based teaching and learning pedagogy, students will progress from completing structured activities to solving open-ended projects and problems that require them to develop planning, documentation, communication, and other transferrable professional skills.

At the end of each course students are required to participate in the End-of-Course (EoC) Assessment that offers students a way to prove their strengths and showcase their potential to teachers, higher education institutions, and potential employers. Students can use their test results to bolster college applications or resumes, or they can send their score report directly to higher education institutions and employers, who may use it for admissions, scholarships, dual credit opportunities, campus experiences, internships, apprenticeships, industry certifications, and more. A student may receive college credit for each of these courses based on course grade and EoC performance from Rochester Institute of Technology/RIT, fees are required.

Engineering Essentials (EE) is an introductory course, designed to be a high school student’s first exposure to the PLTW Engineering Program. In EE, students explore the breadth of engineering career opportunities and experiences as they solve engaging and challenging real-world problems like design a relief center system to serve a community devastated by a natural disaster or creating a solution to improve the safety and well-being of local citizens.

Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) is a high school level foundation course. In IED students are introduced to the engineering profession and a common approach to the solution of engineering problems - an engineering design process. Students will develop skill in technical representation and documentation of design solutions according to accepted technical standards, and they will use current 3D design and modeling software to represent and communicate solutions.

Principles of Engineering (POE) is a high school level foundation course. Through problems that engage and challenge, students will explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, the strength of materials and structures, coding and automation, and motion. Students will further develop skills in problem solving, research, and design while learning strategies for design process documentation, collaboration, and presentation.

Civil Engineering and Architecture (CEA) is a high school specialization course. Students are introduced to important aspects of building and site design and development. They apply math, science, and standard engineering practices to design both residential and commercial projects and document their work using 3D architectural design and modeling software to represent and communicate solutions. Students will progress from completing structured activities to solving open-ended projects and problems that require them to develop planning, documentation, communication, and other professional skills.

Engineering Design & Development (EDD) is the capstone course in the PLTW high school engineering program. It is an open-ended engineering research course in which students work in teams to design and develop an original solution to a well-defined and justified open-ended problem by applying an engineering design process. Student teams will perform research to select, define, and justify a problem. After carefully defining the design requirements and creating multiple solution approaches, they select an approach, create, and test their solution prototype. Teams will present and defend their original solution to an outside panel. While progressing through the engineering design process, students will work closely with experts and will continually hone their organizational, communication and interpersonal skills, their creative and problem-solving abilities, and their understanding of the design process.