The Norman Kiwanis Club selected Parker Lusk, a senior at Westmoore High School and a second-year student in Moore Norman Technology Center's pre-engineering class, as the November Student of the Month during their regular meeting last week.

Lusk is a member of the National Honor and National Technical Honor societies, is a member of Team 1742, MNTC's first robotics division, is involved in the WHS Multicultural Club and is a member of STAND, a student group that aides the people of Darfur, Sudan.

Lusk and MNTC pre-engineering instructor Jason Rausch were in Austin, Texas last week to present at the second annual Project Lead The Way National Symposium on high school engineering programs.

They participated in a student showcase of the projects completed over the past two years and Lusk did a digital electronics presentation.

He is ranked first in his class and actively seeks opportunities to promote and discuss learning opportunities involved through his pre-engineering class. Lusk and a few of his classmates located teachers at Earlywine and Winding Creek elementary schools to begin a new Lego League for fourth to sixth graders.

He's responsible for advising on the programming part of the project. This year, Lusk is responsible for the programming of the robot Team 1742 will develop through their FIRST Robotics competition starting in January, 2010.

"I've known engineering is what I want to do for a career for a long time," said Lusk. "I know now what I'm getting into in college, and feel that I'll be a step-ahead, just starting out."

Lusk recommends that students who are serious about their education and engineering should get all their credits taken care of and not change their school schedules because a class like pre-engineering can open their eyes to what's expected and to opportunities to be leaders.