Three Lancaster County high schools are adding college-caliber engineering programs to their curricula to spur students' interest in science, mathematics, technology and engineering.

Beginning this fall, freshmen at Hempfield, McCaskey East and Manheim Township high schools can get a taste of engineering.

All three schools will offer an introductory engineering course as part of a multiyear pre-engineering program. Manheim Township also will offer a Principles of Engineering course.

In future years, the schools will add courses in digital electronics, civil engineering and architecture, computer-integrated manufacturing, biotechnology and aerospace engineering.

Students who stick with the program will be able to earn up to 11 college credits.

The courses were developed by Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit that 10 years ago partnered with schools, universities and private industry in New York State to develop a pre-engineering curriculum to bridge America's "engineering gap."

China produces about seven times as many engineers and India three times as many engineers as the United States each year, according to a study by the National Academies.

Some researchers have disputed those figures, saying engineering degrees often require less schooling in China or India than in America.

Another study reported a 5 percent decline in engineering graduates in the United States from 1994 to 2004, a period during which graduates in all other fields increased by 20 percent.

"The statistics are pretty compelling," said Chris Adams, assistant superintendent for secondary education at Hempfield. "A lot of (engineering) jobs are being filled by folks who are coming in from outside the country."

Manheim Township has spent more than $100,000 to create a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) lab so students can design and build their own creations.

The lab is equipped with a laser engraver that produces two-dimensional objects out of plastic, glass, metal, wood or foam; a plasma cutter for fabricating sheets of metal; and two computer numerical control wood routers.

The lab also has a rapid prototyping machine (also called a 3-D printer), which creates three-dimensional scale models from computer-aided designs out of ABS plastic.

"Whatever (students) can imagine and design, now they'll also be able to build," Joey Rider-Bertrand, Manheim Township's science and technology curriculum coordinator, said.

McCaskey East also is adding a rapid prototyping machine, and Hempfield plans to develop an engineering lab as it adds more courses.

Teachers at all three schools completed a mandatory 80 hours of training at Penn State University's Berks campus to prepare them to teach the courses.

After two years, the schools must be audited and certified by Project Lead the Way before students can earn college credit.

Students must pass a test similar to a college final exam for each course they complete.

Whatever credits — and grades — they earn are transferrable to Penn State and other colleges and universities that establish articulation agreements with the high schools.

The courses are equivalent to what a college freshman would study in PSU's engineering technology program, said Tom Weiss, affiliate director of Project Lead the Way at Penn State-Berks.

Rider-Bertrand said she's hoping the program exposes more students to the field of engineering well before they decide what to study in college.

"We want to encourage more girls, more minorities, more kids who may not have chosen this career pathway to get into this field," she said.

"We have a lack of engineers in this country … and we need to educate more kids in these areas so the opportunity is there for them.

"That's what we do in education — we open doors. We make sure we're not closing doors on kids."

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com