Engineering Excellence: Local company helps Rockets secure valuable STEM knowledge

October 1, 2025

A locally owned defense contractor helped Northeast High School students explore new engineering blueprints this past week with several engaging activities.
 
Pacific Engineering Inc. (PEI) representatives taught dozens of Rockets about a wide range of job fields such as aerospace, chemical, electrical, mechanical, civil and software engineering. PEI specializes in Department of Defense contracts and has produced items such as composite shower stalls for U.S. Navy ships, anti-torpedo launch cradles and mobile testing trailers. The company, based just outside Lincoln city limits on U.S. Highway 77, brought its own mobile training pod to campus to help students learn more about those careers.
 
Northeast junior Alexi said it was eye-opening to learn more about the large scope of the engineering world. Some of the possible professions include creating new types of potato chips, fixing air conditioners, connecting electrical circuits, designing bridges across rivers and constructing complex computer codes.
 
“I thought engineering, when I first walked in, was just building stuff, but I didn’t realize how much more gets put into the engineering process,” Alexi said.

 
Kwame Gyamfi said it was encouraging to watch students like Alexi unearth new options for their futures. Gyamfi is the school community coordinator at Northeast’s Community Learning Centers (CLC) branch, and he is also on the leadership team of the Clyde Malone Community Center. Lincoln Public Schools partnered with the Malone Center to bring PEI to campus for the engineering sessions.
 
“Oftentimes, students don’t know what careers actually look like,” Gyamfi said. “They may have a general idea, but when you’re able to show them and demonstrate for them what they look like, it really inspires students to narrow down their focus. Engineering’s a broad term. We have all kinds of engineers, and we just wanted to show them the different aspects of that.”
 
Gyamfi said it was important for the Rockets to gain exposure to prospective science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs. Many companies, such as PEI, offer STEM-based products and services to people in Nebraska, the United States and the world.
 
“I’ve already had a student say that they didn’t know about engineering, or even think about it as an opportunity, and now they are, so that’s really the whole point,” Gyamfi said. “For a student that maybe wouldn’t have thought about engineering in any way, shape or form, to understand that everything around us has something to do with engineering.”

 
PEI Senior Vice President Dexter Myers told students that engineering can make all dreams possible. The company has been designing and manufacturing advanced composite items for military and commercial customers for many years. PEI engineers have developed composite canisters and anti-torpedo launch cradles for the U.S. Navy, lightweight modular composite beds for the U.S. Marine Corps and portable medical shelters that can be used for testing and vaccination purposes.
 
“It’s very rewarding when you build something out of a block of metal and you’re able to see it come out the way you envisioned,” Myers said.
 
Alexi said she was interested to learn about engineering opportunities in aerospace and defense fields. She is enrolled in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) focus program at Northeast and has been curious about those work sectors.
 
“The aerospace thing really caught my attention, just because I’ve been taking the ROTC class for two years now, and aerospace has always been something that I’ve been looking into,” Alexi said.
 
Alexi said it was also fascinating to find out that many engineering doors can swing open soon after she earns a high school diploma. Some engineering tasks require advanced degrees, but other positions can be learned on the job immediately after graduating from LPS.
 
“It was just a great experience overall to get to know other options that I have other than just college straight out of high school,” Alexi said.

Alexi and other students took turns in small groups inside PEI-designed mobile training pods. The company first created the pods to provide workforce development services to people affected by the coronavirus pandemic. They are now being used at high schools, community colleges, universities and community centers to inform people about digital and additive manufacturing technologies.
 
The Rockets also studied more specifics about different forms of engineering. For example, they discovered that chemical engineers apply principles such as chemistry, physics, biology, math and economics in their jobs. They use raw materials to design and produce items such as chemicals, fuels, foods and pharmaceuticals. They are employed in numerous industries and often work in either manufacturing plants or research laboratories.
 
Gyamfi said LPS and the Malone Center are working on expanding similar STEM opportunities to other schools. He felt many LPS students were eager to begin drawing their own types of engineering blueprints for their futures.
 
“To me, I have an affinity for STEM,” Gyamfi said. “I love looking up at the stars. I love learning about science, and I believe these kids are the same way.”
 
Want to learn more about STEM opportunities available at LPS? Visit home.lps.org/science and home.lps.org/cs/teaching-with-tech to view a wide range of information about the scope and sequence of LPS courses, curriculum objectives and classroom technology.
 
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