Warwick High School’s new CNC milling machine isn’t just a faster way for electronics students to cut circuit boards. It’s a dramatically effective tool for teaching technology that’s used in the real world.
“We didn’t want Warwick kids to fall behind,” says Barb Mobley, Executive Director of the Warwick Education Foundation, which funded the $2,495 grant to purchase the new machine. “We’re committed to giving them an extra edge. Whether they go directly from high school to a well-paying technical job or go on to college or technical school, we want Warwick kids fully prepared to take the next step equipped with the skills they need.”
Martin Meier along with his colleague Jeff DuBosq, who teach technology and engineering at Warwick High, wrote the grant asking the Foundation to fund the machine. They wanted to close the gap between real-world circuit design and the chemical etching his students had been using. “It was a messy, time-consuming process—and not environmentally sound.”
Today Warwick students can trim a whole week off the timetable for designing, programming, and cutting a prototype circuit board. “So they have a lot more time to discover and learn new things,” Meier adds.
“This is where the industry is going,” says 2019 graduate Marco Randazzo, “and where a lot of the money is now.” As the teaching assistant, Marco assembled the new milling machine and “helped Mr. Meier with the software and designing the first demo board.”
No surprise where’s Marco’s going. “I’m thinking…the technical education route to teaching.”