Aaron Jonckheere是西密歇根大学的一名11年级学生 航空学院，想成为一名机械或航空航天工程师. 虽然他还没有决定要追求哪一个，但他想要 involve his favorite subject: physics.

“我喜欢工程，因为它是数学的实际应用 and science, and you get to solve real problems," said Jonckheere, from Grand Rapids.

参加WMAA的学生，像Jonckheere一样，不仅仅是在学习如何 成为飞行员——他们正在学习如何制造飞机和其他东西 工程方面的成就要归功于强大的课程，这在一定程度上是 supported by Grand Valley.

大峡谷和WMAA之间的合作，WMAA是一所特许学校 grounds of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, 支持学生学习STEM学科，并专注于帮助 教师开发课程和课外活动，如 FIRST Robotics. As part of the collaboration, a Grand Valley graduate 学生协助师生，并由学校捐赠 帮助建立学校第一个制造实验室的设备.

合作的想法始于他的助理米歇尔·林德尔(Michelle Lindale) 帕德诺斯工程与计算机学院院长，当时她的儿子 was accepted to WMAA two years ago. 

她邀请WMAA的学生和老师来参观大峡谷 and, as they say, the rest is history. 

在2016年2月的合作伙伴签约仪式上，Thomas总裁 J. 哈斯说，大学在学生身上投资很重要 before they start college.

"We live in a community that values innovation and 创业精神，所以这对大峡谷和西部来说是很自然的 密歇根航空学院共同努力，为学生做好准备 create, design and build," he said.

Introducing Biomedical Engineering

WMAA的教员彼得·范登堡，工程部主任 department, said the partnership is mutually beneficial. 

“我们已经能够让我们的学生接触到不同的话题 opportunities that we couldn’t purely on our own," he said. “我们请大峡谷大学的教授来研究我们的工程技术 curriculum and determine areas of weakness. They spent a lot of time 回顾它，帮助我们做决定，完善我们的课程. That process really solidified our partnership." 

去年夏天，WMAA的教员斯蒂芬妮·门罗开发了一种新的 生物医学工程的课程是这样介绍给学生的 fall. Samhita Rhodes，工程学院副院长 生物医学工程主席，通过提供 guidance and direction. 

Monroe expected about 20 students to sign up; she was surprised when 57名学生报名，其中包括12年级的阿什利·博加德斯和艾弗里 Balaskovitz. The students and their classmates were asked to design 为一个小组项目定制足弓痛患者的鞋子.

“I’m learning so much,” said Balaskovitz, from Coopersville. “This 这门课不仅教会了我生物医学工程，而且我 学习了设计过程，商业模式和如何开始一个 company. 材料和作业可能很繁重，但我真的很喜欢.”

来自纽瓦哥的Bogardus报名参加门罗的课程，因为她 wants to be a pediatric oncology surgeon. She said the class helped 她对生物医学工程如何适应有了更好的理解 into the medical industry.

“能成为一个与众不同的班级的一员真的很棒 schools offer,” she said. “I’ve learned how to take a biomedical 工程问题和设计的东西，为别人量身定制的 specific need.” 

Monroe is now offering two sections of her class. She said Rhodes’ insight and experience were invaluable. “I would not have gone in the direction I did without her assistance,” she said.

门罗将设计思维融入到她的课程中 大峡谷的学生企业家们访问了WMAA并做了演讲. 

“工程是由发现问题的解决方案驱动的. 设计思维只是将这个想法扩展到考虑如何设计 也可能影响一个人的生活质量。. “Our 学生们正在经历许多来自我们的独特的事情 这不仅为他们提供了更多 创新的学习经历，也让人越来越兴奋 by some to go there some day.”

Flight of the imagination

GVSU-WMAA合作伙伴关系包括毕业生的支持 assistant, who spends about 20 hours a week at WMAA. For two years, 凯尔·丁格(Kyle Dinger)填补了这个角色的灵感和认可 科学与技术(FIRST)机器人教练，并作为一名教师.

“我真的很高兴能够帮助学生想出新的 想法和项目，以及推动他们并给予他们支持 they need to make progress,” he said.

范登堡说，丁格提供了一套非常多样化的技能. “In a 在很多方面，凯尔几乎已经成为这里的另一名教员 他的优势在于他拥有工程专业的学位。.

来自勃朗峰的丁格即将完成他最后一年的研究生学业 student in the mechanical engineering master’s program. Last year, he assisted a teacher with an advanced robotics class. Halfway through the class, he took over as teacher.

Dinger plans to pursue a doctoral degree. He said when he began 看着这些项目，他觉得自己想教书，纯粹是因为 his experience at WMAA. While he’s still deciding what to do, he said being a teacher is still on the table.

“我明白了，为了真正理解某件事，你必须 teach it,” Dinger said. “The experience was humbling, and the students are so driven and want to learn. It has been a pleasure to be able to interact with them and give them the support they need.”