Superintendent of Perry Township Schools
Perry Township Schools offers a magnitude of Advanced Placement and dual credit courses that affords students the opportunity to attain college credit while fulfilling the course requirements for a high school diploma.
However, we recognize that we would not be able to offer these academic opportunities without the support and partnerships of local businesses. One of the longest-running and most treasured partnerships our children have embraced is with the Rolls-Royce aviation division headquartered on the Westside.
Rolls-Royce is celebrating a century of innovation and dominance in aerospace, and this success is being celebrated on the Southside. On Oct. 7 the company opened its doors to employees, and we were honored to be included in the event.
Representatives of Rolls-Royce took the opportunity to showcase the company’s aircraft engines and the planes that are equipped with them. Perry Meridian High School’s robotics team, Cyber Blue, and Southport’s CyberCards were special guests. Cyber Blue was extended some time during the event to show off its robot, named 234.
For many years our school district has been proud to have Rolls-Royce engineers mentor students in our robotics programs. The company has invested thousands of dollars into the programs, and that has led many of our students into various fields engineering, some with Rolls-Royce.
To give you a little history on this outstanding company, Rolls-Royce and its predecessor companies, for the past 100 years, have been engineering, designing and manufacturing advanced technology. Inventor and industrialist James Allison began his engineering business in 1915, laying the groundwork for what would become a global enterprise offering aerospace products and services.
Rolls-Royce has been a world-leader providing a century of innovation. While it’s an important year for the company in marking 100 years of operations in Indianapolis, it has been two decades since the company purchased the enterprise that Allison created. It also marks the beginning of a new century of innovation with the company’s recent announcement to invest an additional $600 million in its Indianapolis plant.
Our robotics teams and their mentors had a wonderful opportunity during the event outside the U.S. Posital Service hangar at the airport. The students were able to view many innovative and legendary aircraft powered by engines built in Indianapolis. Those include famous World War II aircraft, such as the P-51 and P-38, up to “future legends” such as the V-22 and F-35B Lightning II. The history of the aircraft industry is fascinating.
Business partnerships provides opportunities for real-life experiences embedded within their career interests. We’re grateful to Rolls-Royce and to all of our community partners who enhance and broaden the hopes, dreams and aspirations of our students.
Together, we make a great school district even better.