Oct. 18, 2022 -- In addition to the typical middle school curriculum of American history and basic biology, 8th graders at Monticello Middle School have been given a unique and valuable opportunity this year: earn college credit by taking a Robotics class.

As part of the district’s College Credit Plus program (CCP), students in Mr. Diligente’s 2nd period Robotics class will earn four college engineering credits from Tri-C for their work this year. And that work is fun!

As Fin Mouncey says, “This class is really fun because it’s not what we usually do in a regular class. Plus we get college credits we can use later in life.” CCP courses and credits are offered at no cost to district students.

Students are learning coding as they work in pairs to design robots that can perform specific tasks. A Tri-C professor visits them weekly to introduce new projects and then they work with their year-long partner to complete those projects under Mr. Diligente’s guidance.

In its very first year, the class maxed out at 25 students and Mr. Diligente hopes to expand it to additional sections next year and possibly even offer it to 7th graders. Students have to be enrolled in either Algebra 1 or Geometry as the course requires a basic understanding of high school math.

Sixth grade math teacher Sally Mascia introduced Mr. Diligente to the program and he credits her and building principal Dr. Jeff Johnson with bringing it to Monticello. “This would never exist without the two of them,” he says of the unique offering. Only one other Northeast Ohio middle school offers college credit for an engineering course.

“The excitement I see from these kids (and from myself!) is phenomenal. It really shows what we can do here in the Heights,” says Mr. Diligente, who also runs an after-school Robotics Club in which about a third of his students participate.

The Robotics students are building Vex Cortex robots that have to perform specific tasks such as turning to the right or left, stopping at a 90-degree angle, picking up items off the ground, using light sensors to follow a set path, and so on. The class involves plenty of trial and error, with pairs designing, testing, reevaluating, modifying and ultimately perfecting their robots.

In other words, the course is doing exactly what student Marcus Coleman Jr. says, “I think this class is a very useful tool for the future. It prepares us for all the things we’ll have to do in life.”

If readers wish to keep up on the class, they can follow Mr. Diligente on twitter @jdiligente where he regularly posts photos and videos.