Each earns $10,000 for college

By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Three students from West Bloomfield High School won $10,000 national scholarships to pursue engineering degrees in college.

The students participated in the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies and won the scholarships, which the Society of Manufacturing Engineers sponsored with Ford PAS. West Bloomfield High School has a bit of a dynasty going with the scholarship winners in the past few years.

“Now we have three more, and we had three last year and two the year before. So, over $80,000 in scholarships have been won by our students,” said Kate Soderstrom, the Ford PAS coordinator at West Bloomfield High School. The students receive $2,500 a year for four years.

West Bloomfield students have almost monopolized the scholarships.

“There are four available nationwide, and so for us to have gotten three of them is pretty remarkable,” said Soderstrom.

The West Bloomfield High School students who won this year’s scholarships are Jackson Matheson, Drew Pyles and Virginie Frizon.

Matheson will attend the University of Michigan for biomedical engineering. Biomedical engineering produces such things as prostheses.

“Additional things that they get into now are nanotechnologies that can be injected into the bloodstream. And they need people who know engineering and medicine to do that,” said Matheson.

His interest in engineering started with his dad.

“My dad works at Intel, so I’ve always had interest in computer-based things,” said Matheson. He found biomedical engineering along the way.

Pyles will attend Missouri University of Science and Technology. He has interest in mechanical and electrical engineering and does not yet know which one he will choose.

The Ford PAS program helped prepare him for a college engineering education.

“I just always liked to see how things work and stuff, and in high school, I took engineering concepts and stuff like that,” said Pyles. He is the son of the school’s principal, Bob Pyles.

Virginie Frizon was not available for an interview. She will attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. 

“She’s been an active member of the robotics club, and she’s taken all of the engineering concepts and design classes,” said Soderstrom.

The Ford PAS program creates partnerships with businesses, colleges, parents and the community. Students in the program have had opportunities to job shadow, hear parent speakers, and visit engineering schools at various colleges and universities, for example.

“When they first chose to have the Ford PAS program implemented here in the school district, it was because some of the administration had heard them talk about the program — its hands-on curriculum, it’s relevant to what the kids will be seeing when they get out of school — so our district decided to adopt the Ford PAS program,” said Soderstrom.

“And over the four years, it’s become very strong within the engineering curriculum here at the school,” said Soderstrom. “So, my job as the coordinator is to create experiences for the kids. They do coordinated learning experiences.”

Matheson and Pyles felt they gained valuable experience from the classes they took.

“The concepts and design class was very hands-on. It pretty much gives you the setup for whatever your project is, and then after that, you’re on your own, figuring out how things work and playing around with different engineering things,” said Matheson.

“It’s like the real world,” said Pyles.

The Ford Motor Co. Fund has sponsored the Ford PAS program at the school.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.