TUSTIN : Student Gets Credit for an Inventive Course in Technology

By the end of his junior year at Tustin High School, Nathan Wauk had completed every math and science class the campus offered, and that was frustrating for a student who wanted to be an inventor.

So Wauk, 17, proposed that an advanced technology course be added to the curriculum. The school district’s trustees liked the idea, and the class began this fall with 20 students, some of whom are working in university research facilities.

“It’s working out better than I had hoped,” said Wauk, now a senior. “It’s a great style of education because students really have a lot of say in how the curriculum goes. And it’s relevant to today’s society, unlike most of the other classes we take.”

The primary focus of the class, led by calculus teacher and former ironworker Dale Beverly, is to give students ideas of career choices in the areas of science and technology.

“Most classes I’ve taken . . . give a lot of formulas and facts that you never get the chance to apply,” Wauk said. “The purpose here is to take the information and knowledge we’ve learned into careers.”

The class, called Science/Math and Technology, features guest lecturers and field trips to research facilities, engineering and aerospace corporations.

“Nathan took a lot of time and put a lot of thought into proposing a course that was both futuristic and had real-world applications,” said Frank Southern, an assistant principal.

Most of the students in the class are interested in mechanical engineering, officials said, and the rest are exploring robotics, artificial intelligence, genetics or biological engineering.

Two of the students are working part time in steroid research at Chapman University, Southern said.

The class has had an unexpected effect on Wauk himself. While he was once certain that he wanted to pursue inventing as a career, the class has opened his eyes to other choices. “Now I’m discovering so many things that are out there,” he said. “I’m not sure anymore.”