Teacher Case Study

Lisa Holmes 

Engineering CTE Teacher at Castro Valley High School

Ignited Program & Year: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Experience Week (2022), Water Week (2022)
Teacher Benefits: Relevant subject matter, building credibility with students

On the experience: 

“We visited a civil engineering office overlooking Lake Merritt. This place doesn’t just design new structures; the structural engineers handled all the mistakes that the other structural engineers couldn’t handle. I thought that was really powerful.

Then, we traced the entire water system, going behind all the hidden places people don’t usually see—pump houses, city maintenance sites, all of it. At East Bay MUD’s wastewater treatment facility, we saw how they fabricate replacement parts for the system. They can’t just order new pumps because nobody makes those anymore. Everything has to be recreated in the shop. It made me realize – there is never a time when the water system completely breaks down; there are people constantly maintaining things.”

On the teaching impacts:

“I came back from this experience with confidence. I was able to confirm that everything I was teaching my students was absolutely relevant—that they were developing skills they could walk into an engineering office and use that very day.

I used pictures of the firm’s architectural models, and that pushed my students to step up their game when making their own models. And they did not disappoint. We actually did a project where architects and engineers came into my classroom on a weekly basis, and at the end, my students had to present their concepts to be evaluated by people in the industry. They were having the real experience of working in architecture.”