The EDGE Expo (The Academy for Engineering and Designing a Green Environment) held March 1, 2011 at the Antioch High School excites the imagination.  In groups of 4, the first batch of 80 Academy freshmen exhibited bridge models designed to span either the Dow wetlands or Kirker Creek.  The makers of the two most viable bridge creations were awarded a safety vest and a hard hat by two Caltrans engineers who served as judges.

 The event roused fond memories of my late father whose life dramatically depicts the importance of pursuing a dream.  After serving during WWII, he was determined to become a civil engineer.  Despite poverty, my father became the first and only college graduate out of eight siblings.  In his career, he designed roads, bridges, buildings, airport runways and planned the electrification of towns and cities in the Philippines. 

I commend the Antioch Unified School District for assisting our children to pursue their dream, become job ready and gain a winning edge at going to a top-notch engineering college.  I especially applaud AUSD Superintendent Don Gill, AHS Principal Louis Rocha, Academy Administrator David Johnstone, Lead Teacher Kevin Jones and all EDGE Academy teachers. 

Cynthia Ruehlig
Trustee – Area 5
Contra Costa County
Board of Education

This entry was posted on Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Opinion, Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.