Medina Journal-Register — LYNDONVILLE — Technology is becoming an increasingly prevalent part of everyday life, especially in fields like design and engineering. In the Lyndonville Central School District, this fact has not gone unnoticed and has instead been embraced.

Three technology teachers — Aaron Bennett, Jeff Gress, and Todd Wolford  — spent two weeks at the Rochester Institute of Technology this past summer as part of Project Lead the Way. They gave a presentation on their experience to the district’s school board Monday night.

The presentation was summed up in an eight-minute video which showcased the group’s work during the two-week period. That work, according to the teachers, is an example of what type of projects students who take their class this year can expect. That class, offered new this year, is Intro to Engineering Design.

According to the teachers, students who take the class will be exposed to the complete engineering design process. That process includes, but is not limited to, research, analysis, teamwork, communication methods, meeting standards, and technical documentation. All of these aspects help students develop their skills in a problem-based learning environment.

As an added bonus, so long as a student passes the course and pays for it, the credit from it could be transferred to RIT should said student matriculate there.

Board President Ed Urbanik said a technology program such as the one presented is a major feather in the cap for Lyndonville. He said his college-aged son told him some of his classes in school have not featured some of the technology that he was exposed to as a high schooler in Lyndonville.

In other board happenings, Superintendent Jason Smith praised the work of the entire district during the first few days of school. With so many changes entering the year, such as the move to a single bus run and the closure of the elementary school, Smith said the opening week went smoothly. Anything that was determined to not work was altered and fixed in a timely fashion and students and faculty seem to be adjusting well to all the changes, he said.

Smith also applauded the district’s teachers for helping to land Lyndonville on the 2nd Annual AP District Honor Roll. Lyndonville is one of only 30 such districts in New York State and only 367 nationwide.

The honor roll recognizes public school districts that “simultaneously achieved increases in access to AP courses for a broader number of students and also maintained or improved the rate at which their AP students earned scores of 3 or higher on an AP exam,” according to the College Board

website.