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Path to the future: North Penn Engineering Academy builds nationally recognized program, helped with grant support from North Penn Educational Foundation

Engineering teacher Curt Reichwein in February 2020. He retired in December 2021 and is now an NPEF Trustee.

Feb. 25, 2023

Longtime engineering teacher Curt Reichwein retired from North Penn School District in December 2021 to follow a dream, opening a record store in Phoenixville, PA. But he hasn’t left NPSD behind. Just before stepping down as chair of the Technology and Engineering Education Dept., he was elected a trustee of the North Penn School District Educational Foundation.

The Foundation is a nonprofit close to his heart, and he looks forward to working with NPSD faculty to promote the Foundation and encourage teachers to apply for NPEF grants that are awarded twice a year. “I really want to get involved in some way so that I can promote this program to teachers of all levels,” he said in an interview before his retirement. 

Curt recalled the department’s first grant application to the Foundation in about 2000, from coworker Mike Boyer. “That grant was for solar panels that we still use today, in class,” Reichwein said. “We have not skipped the grant cycles since the early 2000s. It's afforded incredible opportunity and growth.” More recent grant applications to the Foundation included 3D printing, laser cutting and engraving, large format milling, nanotechnology and more. 

Many of the grants were funded through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. The Foundation also raises funds for other teacher grants.

Acknowledging the daily challenges teachers face, he nevertheless encourages them to consider supporting and applying to the Foundation.

“If you have a good idea, fill out a grant form. It takes less than an hour,” he said. 

He discussed the Foundation’s grant process. “It's as straightforward as a straightforward process as could possibly be. But sometimes people feel intimidated by the words ‘grant application,’ for one reason or another. Again, what's the worst that someone can say? No. And, you know, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”

In February 2020, shortly before COVID-19 forced a virtual world, Foundation trustees visited Reichwein’s classroom at North Penn High School to see demonstrations of some previous grants. Describing the milling machine, “You can operate this in a tuxedo and not get dirty,” he said. With students able to complete a project in a class period of 40 minutes to an hour, “it’s a tremendous advantage for our students. … In the past they needed eight hours of time.” 

He described it as “a hobbiest mill at an industrial scale.” The tool allows three-dimensional milling and is just one of the projects funded by North Penn Educational Foundation, through EITC support. 

The EITC program provides tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to scholarship Organizations, and Educational Improvement Organization and/or Pre-Kindergarten Scholarship Organizations. The Foundation is an approved Educational Improvement Organization (EIO) and can accept Educational Improvement Tax Credits (EITC).

During the February 2020 tour, he also showed some of the Magic Leap headsets used for special computing. “They’re not VR (virtual reality) headsets. It’s more like Pokemon Go’s augmented reality – a mix of the physical world and the digital world,” he explained. Unlike with VR, “You don’t get motion sickness. You don’t need your VR glasses. The Magic Leap goggles are actually Mixed Reality in that the goggles allow each user to see the physical space as well as other users while having the digital content visible by everyone all at once.  The Magic Leap technology places North Penn engineering students with Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Southern California, Carnegie Mellon.

“We would not be who we are without the support of the Foundation,” Reichwein said.

“It’s been ongoing since the Foundation started and shows the incredible commitment of the Foundation. … We were STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) before STEM became trendy.”

Curt joined the North Penn faculty in 1998. In 2020, he won the Outstanding Engineering Educator Award from the Philadelphia Engineering Foundation. He also won the Technology & Engineering Education Association of Pennsylvania (TEEAP) High School Teacher Excellence Award for 2015-16.

North Penn Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1988 to support students and teachers in the North Penn School District. 

Further reading:

• North Penn High School Engineering Academy website
• Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program
• Local family helping healthcare workers fighting COVID-19 (Knight Crier, May 4, 2020)
• Regional 'Outstanding Teacher' Award Given To North Penn Educator (Patch, Feb. 21, 2020)

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Engineering teacher Curt Reichwein (at right) in February 2020, with North Penn Educational Foundation Trustee David Kratz. Reichwein retired in December 2021 and is now an NPEF Trustee.