by Cesar Gutierrez, 

Precision Manufacturing Teacher Desert View High School

TEACHING AT DESERT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL in this close-knit area of Tucson, Ariz. can be quite a challenge. Our student body is about 90 percent Hispanic, and in many households both parents have to work.

At our school, we have taken on the responsibility of creating a program strong enough to compete with the many distractions for the attention of teenagers. Our success can be reported in numbers; in our NIMS accredited program we have about 320 students attending the drafting and machining program, with engineering students bringing the precision manufacturing department total to more than 400.

Our goal is to develop skills in our students that will be appreciated by manufacturers, resulting in job offers, and by colleges and universities that will enroll our graduates in their manufacturing engineering programs. In this way, our students’ success will help them, their families and their communities. In addition to myself, our program has an engineering teacher and an aide. It takes a lot of outside support to help the three of us succeed in providing quality education within the classroom shop setting.

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