Academy of Engineering and Technology
The Academy of Engineering and Technology, AET for short, is one of the many opportunities available to rising juniors. In order to attend AET, sophomores must take a placement? test on a Saturday afternoon near the end of the first semester (testing for Piedmonts Governor’s School happens simultaneously).
Throughout the two years spent at AET, students will go through ten rigorous courses, those courses are as follows: EGR 121-Foundations of Engineering, EGR 198-Seminar and Project, EGR 122-Engineering Design, EGR 195-Topics in Engineering, MTH 167-Precalculus with Trigonometry, MTH 263-Calculus 1, ENG 111-College Composition I, ENG 112-College Composition II, ENG 245-British Literature, and ENG 255-World Literature.
In each class, a minimum of two college credits will be awarded. Students in the course will learn how to write technically, present, and communicate effectively within the workplace. Along with that, students will also learn how to solve problems, become leaders, and design and supervise engineering projects. Students will be met with a plethora of projects, assignments, and lectures to help them grow and understand.
Throughout the month of March, juniors will participate in a month-long project, for the engineering course, to work with real businesses to solve real world problems that they’re currently facing. Juniors will be split into groups to work together, with coaches on the side, but students will be doing all of the problem solving. Right now, the juniors have recently started their project and have been working with companies such as Dewberry, Kegerreis Digital Marketing, and the Danville Science Center.
As a current junior attending AET, the course so far is definitely not the easiest. In order to truly keep up with the work you’re given on a daily basis, you have to be willing to push yourself more than how you did as a sophomore. Not only have I worked harder academically this year, I have also had to work harder socially this year. We have been given multiple projects where we have to work together with random people for the class most of the time, and I used to be really nervous about doing the projects. However, as we did more and more group projects, I realized I wasn’t the only one nervous about it too.
For any sophomore or freshman interested in attending the Academy of Engineering and Technology, meet with your counselor and learn about the requirements to get in and how you can apply.