EASA, Engineering and Aerospace Science Academy, is a part of MHS and is sponsored by Evergreen Aviation and its founder, Delford Smith. A strong emphasis is put on hands-on experience at the Academy.
"Every class is basically organized around engineering," said senior Travis Milleman. This includes history and English classes. Teachers have agreed on a form for reports, which will be taught in the required technical writing class. The school tries to show students that all of their classes are interconnected.
"You use that math, you use that science that you learned in calculus, in physical science," said teacher Ed Uecker, "Sometimes I'm not really sure why we separate academic classes in the first place."
The students voiced this idea as well.
"You take what you learn in all other classes and put it together and make stuff," said junior Kyle Dreibelbis regarding the Engineering Projects class. Students in this class work together to create a
solution for problems. All of the classes focus on the process involved in approaching and deciphering queries.
"That's the whole idea here: problem solving. How do I use what I know to solve a problem? We're really teaching scientific method," said Uecker.
All classes have practical applications and feature a project. Several students will soon become interns at various local companies and two planes have been donated for restoration: a Cessna 206 and a Cessna 172.
The planes will be resold and the money will go toward buying more planes or sponsoring other projects.
Any money left from the purchasing of materials will be put toward college scholarships for EASA students.
Engineers and technical professionals will help teachers design their curriculums and will directly help students learn what it is that their intended profession does in the workspace.
Evergreen Aviation has played an important role in launching EASA. Almost 10,000 square feet of space was donated for classrooms, science labs and project labs.
The company, through the Captain Michael King Smith Education Foundation, has also donated much equipment.
Students will learn about electricity, hydraulics, pneumatics and other concepts and tools by using interactive boards made by the Amatrol company. Students receive instruction on what to do with the interactive boards and are then asked to consider and evaluate what happened with the boards.
"What I was impressed by was Amatrol's client list," said Uecker. That list includes Ford, Tropicana, General Motors and many others.
The equipment is worth approximately $50,000, and most of it can be expanded upon by adding more circuit boards or new programs.
"This is the only program I have been able to find that has this kind of heavily integrated partnership," said Uecker, in regards to the collaboration between EASA and Evergreen.
Students attending EASA overlook the Evergreen Space Museum during their classes on A Days.
The school area is open to visitors during the day. Classes can be observed through soundproof windows throughout the day.
The day runs from 8:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and includes five 65 minute classes. To use the space, the school district must only pay a portion of the power and cleaning bills for the building.
A central idea at EASA is practical problem solving and the process of problem solving. Students are encouraged to see a problem not strictly as math or science but as applied to everything which they have learned.
"We're really exploring the connections between everything," said junior Devan Hayes, "how one little change can cause wonderful success or disastrous failure."