Business View Magazine June 2023

175 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 6 VALPARAISO DISTRICT SCHOOLS opportunity it was,” he relays. Presented with the question, “What would you do, if you could do anything?”, he jumped in and got started. “The school was going through a remodeling and so we were able to customize the entire STEM department and create labs and spaces that would be very similar to what you would find in college. We’ve modified the curriculum and utilized the Career Center for focused instruction on the trades. For students who are interested in going to college or are looking for those positions of management and things like that, then go through our program. Our transformation has been absolutely amazing and has led to so many opportunity for our kids,” he portrays. With this, the district is able to boast a 100% success rate of graduating engineers being accepted to Ball State and Purdue universities, a remarkable achievement considering the intense admission requirements of both. Valparaiso Community Schools has introduced an aerospace track this year, designed to align with Purdue University’s renowned Aerospace program, widely regarded as one of the best in the country. The district has also incorporated robotics, and computer science with a focus on cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) development and is actively exploring other critical career pathways such as environmental engineering. By offering these programs, Valparaiso aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in emerging industries and address the demands of the future job market. On the subject of technology, El-Naggar remarks, “Our equipment is as advanced as you would find in any office or industry in the Midwest. We have laser cutters, 3D printers, waterjet cutters, FAA-approved flight simulators, and we have a Virtual Reality (VR) Lab with four wireless VR stations, which few, if any, high schools have, and most universities maybe have one or two.” He suggests that often students have to wait until at least the second year of college to experience some of these technologies,