The Technical Drawing Program at Stevenson High School began with the creation of District 125 in the fall of 1965. The original program was composed of a Survey Course of eighteen weeks, a General Drafting Course and an Architectural Drafting Course of thirth-six weeks each. A standard classroom was packed with twenty-four drafting tables equipped with T-squares and triangles, and was under the supervision of a part-time instructor.
In the fall of 1967, a full-time instructor, Mr. Johannsen, was hired; a room change was made; additional equipment and supplies were purchased; and multiple sections of the original classes were offered. Since that time, the program has grown steadily with Mr. Staudt and Mr. Loch teaching one or two sections for a couple of years. A part-time instructor, Mr. Tomaso, was hired for the 92-93 school year and he became full-time in 93-94 teaching the full year Design & Drafting/CAD course and the first year Architectural Design course. Another part-time instructor, Mrs. Finlay, was hired for the 94-95 and 95-96 school years and continued teaching one or two sections of the Intro. to Tech. Draw. course. Mr. Johannsen retired at the end of the 1999-2000 school year but returned as a part-time teacher in the fall to teach the Adv. Tech. Draw. and Eng. Graphics classes. Mrs. Custable was hired for the 2000-2001 school year to teach the Intro. to Tech. Draw. and the Design & Drafting/CAD courses. Mr. Johannsen retired from SHS in 2001 but returned as a part-time instructor until 2003. In 2004, Ms. Smith was brought into the Department as a technical drawing/graphic arts instructor. In 2006, Mr. Tomaso became the Intramural Coordinator and continued as a technology education instructor part-time. Mr. Royce was hired as a part-time architecture instructor from 2006-2010. Mr. Loch and Mrs. Finlay retired in 2010. John Volgi was hired as a part-time architecture and engineering instructor for the 2010-2011 school year. Mike Anderson was hired as a full time engineering instructor in 2011. In 2012, the Tech Ed department introduced Project Lead the Way into the curriculum, and hired Justin Zummo as a part time instructor to teach Project Lead the Way courses and Architecutre. In the 2013-2014 school year, Project Lead the Way added two more courses while the graphic media department added three new courses. These new courses attracted many new students that Mr. Zummo became full time and the Technology Education Department hired Frank Radostits as a full time teacher to teach PLTW and Web Development. Mike Anderson also taught an overload one semester.
The Drafting Room was moved two more times and expanded once since 1967 to provide space for an Architectural Modelmaking area and an airbrushing workstation. During the summer of 1981, additional space was added to provide a lecture area and a separate Drafting area with new industrial type Drafting workstations. The sign making workstation was moved to the Art Department in the summer of 1993 and the airbrushing workstation was reduced in size in the summer of 1994. During the spring of 1993, one computer lab was utilized for one period of the day to accommodate nine sections of Technical Drawing . In the 93-94 school year, one computer lab was utilized three periods of the day to accommodate ten sections of Technical Drawing. During the 94-95 school year, the computer lab was used for five periods of the day to accommodate twelve sections of Technical Drawing. The Technical Drawing Room was moved to remodeled computer labs and Math classrooms off the main hallway during the summer of 95.
In the fall of 1983, three computer graphics terminals and MATC CAD Computer Aided Drafting software were added to provide students an opportunity to experience a new technology. During the 86-87 school year, an engineering copier was purchased to allow for the reproduction of oversized drawings. In the fall of 1987, a large plotter was added to extend the use of CAD in architectural areas. In the fall of 1988, the Apple 2E computers and graphics tablets were replaced with Apple 2GS computers. Three additional CAD workstations were added in the fall of 1989 and a dedicated plotting system was experimented with during the first semester. During the 90-91 school year, a Macintosh SE30 computer was purchased and used to evaluate CAD software to replace the MATC CAD software. In the fall of 1991, six Macintoch IIsi computers replaced the Apple 2GS machines and FlexiCAD software replaced the MATC CAD program. Six additional Macintosh IIsi workstations were added for the 92-93 school year. The twelve IIsi computers were upgraded to Macintosh Centris 610 and six additional workstations were added in 93-94 to enable 18 students to work with a CAD system. Six additional CAD systems were added in 94-95 to enable a class of 24 students to complete all drawing assignments with a CAD system. Two additional software packages, ArchiCAD and Microstation, were added during the 95-96 school years for the Advanced Technical Drawing courses. PowerMac 5400/125 were added for the new softwares for the 96-97 school year and upgraded to 5500/225 for the 97/98 school year. During the 97-98 school year, our softwares were upgraded to ArchiCAD for Teamwork and MicroStation 95. Two Compac PC's with Windows 95 were placed in each lab during 97-98 to allow students to experiment with an alternate computer system, CAD softwares and reference CD's that are available only in the Windows format. In the fall of 1998, ten of the 5500's were replaced with 6500/225 PowerMacs with Zip Drives; and all computers were upgraded to 64 MB of RAM. In January of 1999, the ArchiCAD software was upgraded to 6.0. In the fall of 1999, all computers in 1302 and 1308 were upgraded to PowerMac G3s @450 MHZ and 128MB of RAM. In the spring of 1999, the MicroStation software was upgraded to the SE version. In the fall of 2000, the ArchiCAD software was upgraded to the 6.5 University version. In the spring of 2000, AutoCAD 2000i was purchased for the two Compacs in 1308. In August of 2001, the ArchiCAD software was upgraded to the 7.0 University version. Vectorworks was purchased in 2001 and has replaced Microstation.
The Technology Labs have continued to change and update. It now includes a separate classroom for presentations and written work; the two labs that each provide twenty-eight CAD workstations plus a special projects/storage room. During 2003-04 students will have the privilege of working on Macintosh G5s with Apple 17" flat monitors. The labs are made available to students before school in the morning, eight periods during the day and occasionally after school. You may request a pass from study hall to work on technical drawing activities whenever an instructor is present in the labs.
In the 2011-2012 school year, the Engineering and Architecture lab moved to room 1006 and 1008. It includes a computer lab with 28 iMac computers that run the Windows Operating System to support the new Autodesk Suite. It also has a prototyping lab which is equipped with tools to support the engineers in building prototypes of their designs and architects in building models of their designs. The department is anticipating a 3D printer for the 2012-2013 school year to aid in the production of prototypes.
In the 2012-2013 school year, Stevenson High School's Technology Education Department introduced Project Lead the Way into the curriculum, starting with the course Introduction to Engineering Design.
In the 2013-2014 school year, the department addded Game Development 1 & 2, Web Media 2, Civil Architecture and Engineering and Digital Electronics.