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Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national non-profit engineering and biomedical sciences education program found in approximately 4,700 secondary schools in all 50 states nationwide.  Its sequence of courses, when combined with appropriate mathematics and science courses in middle and high school, introduces students to the scope, rigor and discipline of engineering, technology, and biomedical sciences prior to entering college.  The programs’ formal curriculum is rigorous and contemporary, problem/project-based, and is supported by relevant teacher professional development which is provided in a required immersion format and further augmented in an ongoing manner through a web-based Virtual Academy.

Department Highlights

• CJ is the first Catholic high school in the nation to be dually certified to provide Project Lead the Way courses in engineering and biomedical science.  

• College credit is available for students who successfully complete the PLTW coursework and national exam.

• The PLTW curriculum is rigorous and contemporary, problem/project-based, and supported by ongoing teacher professional development.

• State of the art software is utilized in the PLTW courses, including Autodesk Inventor, ROBOTIC, LabVIEW, MultiSim, and Logger Pro.

• Beyond PLTW, all CJ students are provided numerous opportunities to explore STEMM fields of college and career preparation. Programs include events and student competitions at CJ, in the local community, at area colleges and universities, and nationwide.

• The monthly STEMM Idol Speaker Series is open to all students, and features alumni, educators and professionals in STEMM fields.

• Numerous CJ parents and alumni are involved, serving as STEMM Idol speakers, mentors to CJ students, job shadowing hosts, work site tour hosts, and judges for competitions and science fair.

• The CJ STEMM Scholar program offers opportunities to local K-8 students such as the annual STEMM Summer Camp, after-school work site tours, interactive learning experiences at CJ, Math Counts Club, and outreach to math and science teachers.

• CJ students learn through real world experiences from hands-on activities, field trips, and presentations from experts and professionals in STEMM fields.