HAFTR hosts multi-school ‘Young Engineers’ confab

Nearly 700 ninth and 10th grade students from 25 area schools who are enrolled in the CIJE-Tech High School Engineering program participated in their Young Engineers conference at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway on May 19.

The students’ work, which was examples of biomedical and electronic engineering innovations using robots, sensors and machine technology, were demonstrated at the conference, which served as the program’s capstone project presentation. 

The Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE) strengthens and enriches education in Jewish schools throughout the country, focusing on educating for innovation, instilling critical thinking, creativity and problem solving skills. It provides funding for programs at 150 schools in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

CIJE offers a number of innovative programs including its Tech High School Engineering Program. It is a national, two-year course in scientific and biomedical engineering for high school students. The program exposes students to a diverse range of STEM careers. A discovery-based STEM education program, it was developed in collaboration with Israel Sci-Tech, which is a network of Jewish schools focusing on STEM learning. The program provides teacher training, ongoing teacher mentoring as well as engineering laboratory equipment and materials.

CIJE VP and Director Judy Lebovits, said that the center and its program teach the children about science and life skills.

“Our goal is to help children in our schools to gain knowledge about Judaism and successfully face the challenges in society,” she said. “We concentrate on kids gaining self-confidence, research skills and self-reliance, the ability to work independently. These are all skills that can be applied to other school subjects and life.”