Summer is traditionally a time for students to sleep later, play more, and unwind from last year's schooling - but not for Long Island P-TECH students! The Pathways to Technology Early College High School program, a grant-funded consortium project, supports student engagement in science, math, and technology subjects and activities, combining the best elements of high school, college and work-based learning, and empowering students to pursue an advanced education and to be financially successful in the global economy. A summer program hosted at SUNY Farmingdale allowed 18 Freeport incoming ninth-graders to explore their pathways into technology-related professions, focusing this year on 3D printing, a tool becoming more widely used in manufacturing and other industries. Working in collaboration with Farmingdale State College staff and students from the Mechanical Engineering program, the students learned about the components of 3D printers, toured Long Island facilities currently using the technology, and then built and printed actual objects using their 3D printers. Talk about an exciting summer!
