Although some students may be unsure of what they want to study outside of high school, there is a program at Revere High School (RHS) that ensures students have a plan that suits them when they graduate. Student Eli Brackett takes part in RHS’s engineering program and plans to continue through the program into his senior year.
Brackett is a freshman at Revere High School (RHS) and is currently in the class Introduction to Engineering and Design for RHS’s engineering program, and Brackett plans to finish all of the engineering classes by the time he is a senior. When Brackett is not at school he fills his free time with map-building video games that expand his mind even more.
All of the engineering classes provided at RHS are taught by Joseph Silvestri. explained what the engineering class provides for not only Brackett but any student at RHS who decides to put them on their schedule.
“Each [of the four] class[es] is a year long, or two semesters. Each class is on the honors track here at the high school. Each class [provides] the opportunity to earn college credit,” Silvestri said.
Silvestri also went into detail about where Brackett’s education in engineering will go from where he is now in the Introduction to Engineering class. Brackett has three more classes to take to finish out the program but depending on his schedule for his next three years of high school he could double up on the engineering classes if he wants to.
“He’s in my Intro to Engineering and Design class and so it’s the first of four. . . . If he continues to stay in the engineering program, he’ll advance up to Principles of Engineering, that’s the next level, and then after that is Civil Engineering, architecture, and then after that is the senior Capstone class,” Silvestri said.
Although Brackett is only a freshman, Silvestri can already see his potential for the engineering program. He explained what kind of student Brackett is in his class.
“He does well academically, he does a good job at participating in class and asking questions,” Silvestri said.
With a class in the engineering field, almost all of the students in it know little to nothing about the subject. Silvestri explained that because of this he has his students work in groups or pairs throughout the semesters to make learning go smoothly. He explained that Brackett has adapted to this class style well and that it is something that makes him stand out as a student.
“We do a lot of group work or work in pairs and he’s good at working in groups which is not always the case, especially for freshmen or sophomores,” Silvestri said.
Even when Brackett is at home relaxing away from school, he still prefers to do activities that require a little bit of brain power. Brackett enjoys playing a certain type of video game where he has to think things through and strategize. He explains what these games are.
“Mostly I play games where you’re playing as a country on a map and you basically just control every aspect about this country,” Brackett said.
Brackett has not always had an interest in these map-building games. He explained what piqued his interest in them.
“Something that piqued my interest for those types of games is I saw a couple YouTube videos centered around that type of game and I thought it looked pretty fun so I decided to try it,” Brackett said.
Brackett also sometimes plays board games that pertain to the map building relm. His friend, Freshman Kaden Jones, explained what other games Brackett plays.
“There’s this one game, Axis and Allies, it’s like a World War Two map game. . . . Eli is really good at them,” Jones said.
Brackett explained how he levels up in these games and has a mindset that helps him to improve.
“I usually set goals for myself in the games that I work towards,” Brackett said.
Brackett excels not only in the video games he plays but also in his classes and group work at school. Brackett plans to continue with the engineering program at RHS and can usually be found playing as a country trying to conquer other nations.
