I knew I loved engineering and designing devices to solve problems but I didn’t think I would get a teacher like Mr. Schlitt who would enhance that love times two.  After his Arrowhead engineering class, I feel more confident in my choice to become an engineer.

For my junior year of high school, I signed on for the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) class Principles of Engineering (POE) because I was setting myself up to pursue a career in engineering. My previous PLTW class, from freshman year, was boring and I was ready to push through any boredom.  When I entered the Engineering classroom, I found a seat up front and when class started, Mr. Schlitt, in his flannel shirt and jeans, presented the course with an attitude that made me excited about the types of problems for projects we would solve. 
During each of the projects, Mr. Schlitt found time to help/work with each group, (which is difficult with five or six groups scrambling for attention).  And like a walking instruction manual, he demonstrates all the bells and whistles of any tool we needed to use (which makes the class easier to understand and allows us to have more fun building our projects).

Once I botched an assignment and he made a move I had not seen any other teacher make before. Mr. Schlitt asked, “Do you want to get together so we can make sure you understand this?” After two years at Arrowhead, the routine was always for the student to have to ask the teacher to set up a time to review previous assignments, but Mr. Schlitt did the reverse. He surprised me and gave me the feeling that he really cared about my success. 

Mr. Schlitt also coaches tennis at Arrowhead and teaches the woods classes.  For my senior year, I had him for Woods Survey. In this class, he managed a class of thirty six students that knew little about tools and machines. Mr. Schlitt also helps students construct side projects that they make for recreation.

One day, I was wearing my MSOE sweatshirt and he asked me if I was going there. He listened, with genuine interest, to me ramble on about my plans for going there for biomedical engineering. This made me feel like he actually cares about how I will use these skills beyond the class.

Mr. Schlitt has prepared me for my future. He encouraged and built me into the engineer I am ready to become. Without him, I am not sure what my feelings for my future may have been, but now I know I am ready. This is why I nominate him for this award.