Five community outreach and informational meetings were held in June in different areas of El Paso County Colorado School District 49 by the Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy Colorado, which is seeking authorization from D 49 to establish a PTECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) engineering and technology school. The PTAA seeks a four-year charter to open a K-8 campus in 2020 and add additional grades every year to eventually become a K-12th grade PTECH campus, offering dual credits and internships to all high school students.The mission of PTAA is to empower and engage students to reach their full potential as global leaders who will enhance their communities and the world through creativity, collaboration and innovation.PTAA is an engineering and technology STEM school that offers classes beyond the core subjects. Those classes include computer science and engineering, Chinese, Spanish, art and music. In this highly competitive world, students need proper tools, ideas and knowledge to stay above national and international graduating standards.The PTECH program will offer several high-need career pathways and work with local community colleges and universities to provide dual credit courses to future PTAA high schoolers so they may graduate with an associate degree. In addition to dual credit, PTAA has several community partners to provide opportunities like work site visits, mentorships, internships and externships for students to be better prepared to enter the workforce.PTAA also has partnerships with Brazil, India and China (BRICS Nations) schools to expose, challenge and mentor students with their foreign peers in the fastest growing economies. Students in the foreign exchange program may elect to take six-month courses in sister schools in China, Brazil and India during the senior year of high school.
