June 1, 2023 - On May 16, staff from the Manassas City Public
Schools (MCPS) Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Instructional departments were invited to attend a roundtable discussion at Lockheed Martin to talk about career development for aspiring engineers. Lockheed Martin sponsored the event where former local students in the engineering field and leadership from Project Lead the Way (PLTW) weighed in on programs that aid students entering the workforce.
Dr. Laura Goldzung, Director of Instruction, and Tara Eason, CTE Coordinator, represented MCPS at the roundtable discussion. Representatives from Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) also attended the event.
President and CEO of PLTW, Dr. David Dimmett, shared information about the PLTW engineering curriculum, which allows students to explore the engineering field and solve real-world problems while preparing to be workforce ready.
The PLTW engineering curriculum, along with many other CTE courses, is offered at Osbourn High School.
Lockheed Martin has developed the T.A.L.E.N.T (Training Aspiring Locals to Engineer a New Tomorrow) Program for students who have learned the fundamentals of engineering through PLTW. Six Lockheed Martin employees who went through the engineering apprenticeship, including three Osbourn High School graduates, provided insight on how PLTW and T.A.L.E.N.T helped them on their career paths.
Madilynn Harris is a 2022 Osbourn graduate. She participated in PLTW and STEM courses at OHS before joining the T.A.L.E.N.T. program. She is currently an engineering apprentice working towards her master’s in Information Technology.
Sukrit Bhattarai, who graduated from Osbourn in 2019, took PLTW courses and was a Robotics team member. He joined Lockheed Martin after graduation. He is currently an engineering aide studying electrical engineering at George Mason University.
Andy Moreno graduated from Osbourn in 2018, where he took both PLTW and CTE classes. He is currently a cyber security engineering associate for Lockheed Martin and recently graduated with his master’s in digital forensics.
Harris, Bhattarai, and Moreno are pictured with Lockheed Martin staff, PLTW leaders, PWCS representatives, Eason and Dr. Goldzung.
