Students have laser focus on their future

The list of available jobs in the science and technology fields is a long one.

But filling those jobs is not an easy task. One high school in Colorado Springs is hoping to get more students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields by using a laser cutter.

Students at Vista Ridge High School in Colorado Springs watch in fascination as the laser cutter does in minutes what used to take hours.

It’s one of only three school based lasers in the state and thanks to a federal grant several classes will benefit.

“The business class, the engineering class and some of the art classes,” according to Nathan Truex, the technology teacher at Vista Ridge High School.

Some of the students already know what they want to do after graduation.

“I know I want to do engineering. I’m leaning towards software and computer engineering,” said Rachel Knoche, a senior at Vista Ridge.

The laser uses a computer program to tell it where to go and Rachel is looking forward to writing that program.

Rachel said, “we might make prototypes depending on the projects.”

Through trial and error: “whenever the students get into it we’ll see what else it can do,” said Knoche.

Students can learn what they need to do to be part of the workforce of the future. So that their job prospects can be as hot as the laser that they’ll be using one day.

And the laser is hot, it burns at 10,000 degrees. That’s as hot as the surface of the sun.