Features: March 4, 2002

Program Connects Rensselaer With High School Students
Seventeen-year-old Robbie MacCue focused intensely as he figured out, with a little help, how to connect a "clapper" circuit for a light switch that turns on and off at the sound of a hand clap. The Averill Park High School senior is part of a Questar III program at Rensselaer that provides hands-on, college-level experience to high school students considering a college major in math, engineering, information technology, or science.

The New Visions Mathematics/Engineering/
Technology/Sciences (METS) program, in its second year, is a collaboration between Rensselaer's Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education (CIPCE) and Questar III, which covers vocational training for school districts in Rensselaer, Columbia, and Greene counties.

Up to 15 high school seniors are selected based on their interest in math and science. They spend weekday mornings during the school year observing and participating with some of the more than 60 Rensselaer professors and graduate students involved in the program.

The seniors are exposed to labs and course work in fields such as biomedical, environmental, and electrical engineering; computer science; and physics. The students also visit local high-tech companies.

New Visions has excelled beyond anyone's expectations, according to CIPCE Director Lester Rubenfeld. The program went from five students last year to the maximum capacity of 15 with many students having to be turned away this year.

Since New Visions began last year, 13 students have applied to Rensselaer and eight already have been accepted.

"This program can really open doors to college acceptance and future employers in the fields of technology, math, and science," says New Visions teacher Tammie Borland.

"Some of these high school seniors might not have applied to Rensselaer or other universities had it not been for the time and dedication of Rensselaer faculty and their students in the New Visions Program."