Project Lead the Way Presentations

Engineering combined with the entrepreneurial spirit was on full display when a cohort of Kent County High School presented their projects earlier this month.

The seniors in Project Lead the Way appeared before the Kent County Board of Education Monday, May 8 to show their capstone works.

Tracey Williams, supervisor of student services and secondary education, introduced engineering teacher Brett King to the board. King has been the lead teacher for the program for several years.

“Every year I really look forward to seeing the creativity these students bring to us,” Williams told board members.

In their presentations, the students spoke about an identified problem, the research they conducted and the marketable solution they developed.

Projects ranged from creating a better beach umbrella anchor to upcycling old furniture.

Kent County High School engineering teacher Brett King, left, joins his senior Project Lead the Way students Monday, May 8 for a photo after they showed the Board of Education what they’ve been working on in the program.

Students developed products that would help them with their own interests, like a better storage system for an artist’s paint jars, a more stable hitting tee from baseball practice and improved parts for a classic Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.

Some students incorporated computer programing into their projects, like a group that developed a sorting machine for Magic: The Gathering card collections.

Three-D printing was a common method of production for some of the Project Lead the Way teams.

King reminded board and audience members that this cohort of students came up through Covid. He said they have been very enthusiastic about the program and their projects.

“I’ve been very impressed with how they’ve done this year and the projects that they’ve had,” King said.