The halls of the Indiana Statehouse were unusually quiet the last week of January. Bitter cold prevented most people from traveling, and that included a number of PLTW students from across the state who had been ready to display projects for the first official PLTW Statehouse Day in Indianapolis.
Legislators, however, continued to work their way through a long list of bills moving through both sides of the General Assembly. When the Indiana Senate was called to order by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch on Jan. 31, the first order of business was to hear from senators presenting resolutions.
Despite the cancelled advocacy day, PLTW students and teachers received recognition from Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 – presented by State Sen. Dennis Kruse – for their contributions to Indiana’s STEM education network and workforce development.
“Project Lead The Way empowers students to use skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and perseverance in pursuit of mastering STEM projects,” the resolution reads. “Project Lead The Way prepares Indiana teachers to engage students in hands-on learning environments that equip students for real-world situations, all while teaching them to work collaboratively with others.”
Joining Kruse in sponsoring the resolution were State Sens. Jean Leising, Rodric Bray, and David Niezgodski, as well as Rep. David Heine.
Resolutions are a special kind of action taken by a legislative body that do not carry the force of law. In the case of a concurrent resolution, both sides of a bicameral legislature must approve, and thanks to Heine signing on, that happened for Hoosier PLTW students and teachers.
Despite the disappointment of canceling a much-anticipated event, there could not have been a better consolation than this official recognition. PLTW is deeply grateful to the legislators, students, and teachers who made this possible.
Read the full Senate Concurrent Resolution 18:
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION honoring the students and teachers of Project Lead The Way.
Whereas, Project Lead The Way empowers students to use skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and perseverance in pursuit of mastering STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) projects;
Whereas, Project Lead The Way prepares Indiana teachers to engage students in hands-on learning environments that equip students for real-world situations, all while teaching them to work collaboratively with others;
Whereas, students from Project Lead The Way have shown tremendous amounts of success as they go on to pursue their academic endeavors beyond the K-12 levels in STEM-related fields;
Whereas, Project Lead The Way involves more than 900 teachers who train more than 63,000 students in high-demand, transferrable skills in Project Lead The Way's engineering, biomedical, and computer science pathways; and
Whereas, Project Lead The Way students from all over the state traveled to the Statehouse to display their projects and give state leaders an opportunity to see their accomplishments in person:
Therefore, be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives concurring:
SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly honors the students and teachers of Project Lead The Way.
SECTION 2. The Secretary of the Senate is hereby directed to transmit copies of this Resolution to the teachers and students participating in Project Lead The Way.
