Granite Falls "ShopGirls"
Back to 'Taking Flight eCommunicator: Creating Impact'
By Jennifer Ferrero, editor
We've all heard the saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day - teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." At Granite Falls High School in Granite Falls, WA they are not only teaching skills in their manufacturing classes that will get kids through high school, but rather valuable skills that they can use for the rest of their lives.
Michael Werner, a Manufacturing Instructor from Granite Falls High School, a school of about 650 students believes in the value of hands-on Project Based Learning. Originally from Switzerland, Werner was apprenticed as a machinist in the Swiss Air Force Technical School.
He notes, “In Switzerland, apprenticeships vs. college are viewed as equal.” In America, this doesn’t necessarily hold true. However, people like Werner are working to advance perceptions about students who may choose an apprenticeship track over college prep as a path toward career development.
His “ShopGirls” are the perfect example.
For one thing, girls are not traditionally interested in hands-on shop or manufacturing classes. However, with Werner’s Eco Team’s manufacturing course, where kids get to design and build cars that they can race, they have developed an all-girls racing team and a co-ed racing team where girls gain a comfort level as well as contribute important additional dimensions to the teams.
These courses, while a huge time commitment for both students and Werner, offer training in such disciplines as applied math, engineering, and manufacturing – yet they are fun!
The “ShopGirls” and “UrbanAutos” teams have traveled to Houston, TX twice to compete in the international Shell Eco-Marathon, a fuel efficiency race. Both teams have raced and won against University teams in their category – with the ShopGirls getting 470 mpg and the UrbanAutos team setting an America’s record of 186 mpg .
For their success – they’ve been featured in National Geographic News (an online version of the print magazine), interviewed on NPR Radio and featured in US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan’s, speech to The Harvard Graduate School of Education as a model for “homegrown” Career and Technical Education (CTE).
This team of eight girls is learning skills that according to Werner will, “set themselves apart from other students. They will have skills that are in demand - as well as life and workforce skills that are currently difficult to find."
How they got their start
Werner had a diverse career in auto racing, vintage aircraft restoration, and operating a Swiss aerospace firm here in the states before coming into teaching. A few years ago, he met Mary Kaye Bredeson, Director of the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing and they found that they had a common goal.
They wanted to see young girls becoming engaged in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Werner shared his idea about running a manufacturing course with a group of girls to teach them how to build things. Bredeson was on-board and helped fund initial efforts through the Center.
Since then, the program has been instrumental in helping one student earn her acceptance to MIT and others to gain acceptance into engineering programs to State Universities. Perhaps even more impressive has been the change in one student from potentially dropping out of high school altogether to being this year’s team manager.
UrbanAutos and ShopGirls testing alternative diesel fuel at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with the help of industry partners
Local business participation
Matthew Weaver, president of Fiberglass Supply is actively involved with the group. He says, “We want the students to be successful.” His company donates products and serves in an advisory role with the students. He comes into the classroom about six times a year to work with both the boys and girls on their projects.
Werner has known Weaver for a number of years and values his leadership with both teams. "He has an in depth knowledge as a company owner and is great in an advisory role with students. It's that kind of support from industry that makes us a success." He also adds that because of Weaver's donations of carbon fiber "a very expensive material," the kids have learned how to carefully measure and cut without wasting it for their cars. "It is lighter and better to use than other materials," Werner elaborates.
When advising the students, Weaver notes that there is a difference between how boys and girls work when in a shop class, “Girls tend to take notes and are better organized, but are reluctant to jump in to do the hands-on work; boys will pay less attention, but will dive right into the hands-on work.”
In general the girls “have become very close,” shares Werner, while also learning work-related skills. In addition to applying the technical and academic skills like physical science, geometry, and trigonometry, they are learning soft skills like communication, presentation skills, maintaining their web page, how to prepare for a television interview, and teamwork under real world conditions.
The program brings a full circle of disciplines into practice for these high school students. Werner has taught the kids to fish and they will be able to eat for a lifetime with the skills learned in his class.
(See video - Building a Carbon Fiber Panel using infusion with the Granite Falls High School) 