December 12, 2025 // Diocese

Project Lead the Way

Todays Catholic

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a learning initiative that offers students of all ages the opportunity to develop the skills needed for college and real-world careers. Saint Joseph High School in South Bend offers students all three PLTW tracks – biomedical sciences, engineering, and computer science. The biomedical track consists of four yearlong courses: Principles of Biomedical Science, Human Body Systems, Medical Interventions, and Biomedical Intervention.

Principles of Biomedical Science asks students to analyze data, control hypothetical outbreaks, and promote living a healthy life. The course hinges on the fictional death of the character, Anna Garcia. Students in biomedical science develop necessary and on-demand skills that will help as they pursue further study toward a career in the biomedical field.

Human Body Systems is PLTW’s version of an anatomy class. Students experience real-world medical scenarios to see medicine in action. They’re instructed to diagnose and provide treatment to fictional patients in a rehabilitation center, keep their clients safe on medicine trips to remote locations, and work on research exploring aging and development.

Students of the Biomedical Interventions class explore scenarios such as designing a prosthetic arm and following the life of a fictional family to learn how to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Biomedical Innovations students use the knowledge they have gained through their past three years to innovate their own solution to the health problems of today.

“It can open doors,” said Tracy Gergely, who teaches Principles of Biomedical Science at Saint Joseph.

The Biomed track shows students things they will not encounter in traditional classrooms. The hands-on, problem-solving experience is helpful in any workplace – not just careers dealing with medical knowledge. The Biomedical track provides students with information and skills they will use in the medical and medical research fields, certainly, but it also teaches them vital skills for any career later in their life.

“Biomed has taught me many workplace skills like communication with others, problem solving, adaptability, creativity, and teamwork,” said Human Body Systems student Stella Weller. “It offers many career options to pursue later in life and helps people develop on a personal level as well.”

The Biomedical track’s classes are all group-oriented, requiring students to be able to work well with others in small and large groups. From reconstructing a crime scene in Principles of Biomedical Science, to replating real bacteria in Medical Interventions, group work and collaboration are a fundamental part of the Biomed experience.

“There are students who surprise the teacher,” Gergely said. “Some kids will learn that, hey, maybe this is something I want to do, and others will learn that this isn’t something for them.”

The crucial aspect is the opportunity to explore relevant experiences that typically students would otherwise have to wait years to encounter.

Freshman Rylan Rockwell said: “I went into Biomed wanting to be a lawyer. Then over the course of the class, I learned that a desk job wasn’t what I wanted. I learned, with the help of Mrs. Gergely and the Principles of Biomedical Science class, that I want to go into veterinary medicine.”

Through hands-on experience and the nontraditional class structure, students often discover what they really want to do in the future. The Principles of Biomedical students receive their initial exposure to the biomedical field with state-of-the-art equipment and activities with minimal instruction, forcing the students to think critically about their situation and learn what to do and what not to do through trial and error.

This year’s biomedical sciences classes have already completed multiple projects. The Principles of Biomedical Science classes have already seen their model crime scene, and their investigation is underway. Students have finished their blood drop lab, in which they used pipettes to drop fake blood from different heights and angles in order to analyze what conditions create different kinds of blood spatter. Human Body Systems students recently dissected a cow’s elbow and will use it as a model for a human’s anatomy in their upcoming lessons. The Medical Interventions students wrapped up a lab in which they plated cultures of bacteria and allowed them to grow, and then they took samples from the cultures and plated them onto petri dishes treated with different antibiotics in order to learn which antibiotics work best against bacteria. The Biomedical Innovations students are currently testing water for bacteria in order to investigate what is making their fictional family sick.

The PLTW curriculum offers a special experience for Saint Joseph students as they discern potential careers while still in high school. Taught by seven teachers in the science and math departments, the program has grown steadily throughout the past decade. The emphasis on collaboration and project-based learning provides invaluable training that helps prepare them for the workplace regardless of the specific job they will eventually pursue.

One of the landmarks for Project Lead the Way is a coat ceremony for those students who have finished the third course in the sequence. Held each spring, the event celebrates the proud accomplishment of the biomedical students who reach this milestone.

Kylie Huff is a sophomore
at Saint Joseph High School.