Posted: Nov. 10, 2009

Greendale — Ryan Guziewicz knows what field he wants to enter when he goes off to college, so he's taking the appropriate classes in high school to prepare.

That fact, by itself, is certainly not out of the ordinary.

But considering that Guziewicz, a Greendale High School junior, wants to study biomedical sciences after he graduates, it may seem he would be out of luck finding high school classes that could adequately prepare him.

Thanks to the high school's new biomedical sciences program, now in its second year, Guziewicz and many others get exposed to education almost unheard of in Wisconsin high schools.

Uncommon effort

The biomedical sciences program is part of Project Lead the Way, a national engineering and science program in which Greendale and other southeastern Wisconsin school districts take part.

However, Greendale is one of only two high schools in the state that has added the biomedical science program, which is led by Greendale teacher Terri Tessmann, a former biomedical engineer.

Tessmann took a $100,000 per-year pay cut to become a teacher. She had experience teaching others while working in the field, which made for an easy transition, she said.

"It's an easy class to teach because the kids like it and it's something I'm passionate about," Tessman said. "I come to school all day and I play. And the kids are fabulous. They love what they're doing."

Conferring nationally

Besides teaching at Greendale, Tessmann also works with Project Lead the Way at the national level to help write the biomedical science curriculum for participating schools across the country.

Her connections, at least in part, led national organizers to invite a group of four Greendale biomedical students along with staff chaperons to a national conference in Austin, Texas, this week.

"She's extremely important to their whole organization because she's helping them write curriculum," Principal Steve Lodes said.

Sure, the school's connection to Tessman was a factor as to why GHS is one of 25 U.S. schools showcased at the symposium.

"But, also, we have 50 kids signing up for the class, so we're one of the leaders, in (symposium officials') eyes, as far as how our fledgling program has taken off," he added.

The trip was funded, in part, through a Project Lead the Way grant.

Acting on their work

In Texas, students will demonstrate some of the projects developed during class and taken through a trial run last week.

One project was a pharmaceutical game, which educated participants on the lengthy journey a drug takes from creation to distribution.

Another was an interactive demonstration on different parts of the brain. Guziewicz, one of the students traveling to Austin, identifies a cause of death after hearing a list of symptoms and conditions.

He said he and his classmates, acting as medical examiners, previously acted out the scenarios.

"It was kind of fun actually, after you watch shows like CSI," he said.

Students aren't the only ones benefitting from a November trip to Texas. School officials will take advantage of networking opportunities and bring back new ideas to Greendale, Lodes said.

He said he also hopes students can come back and spread the good word to their peers about Project Lead the Way and get others involved.

"We want the students to have a great experience to come back and talk about the program," he said. "We want kids to say, 'Hey, that Project Lead the Way program, I'm going to make the effort to put that into my schedule.'"