June 2, 2026 — Once again, the success of students and staff within Cobb Schools has caught the eye of people from all across the country.
As part of the longstanding partnership among Cobb Schools, the Caterpillar Foundation, and Project Lead the Way, leaders recently visited Walton High School to see the successful results of their work firsthand.
Both groups met with Cobb Schools and Walton leadership for over an hour before touring the robotics facility at the school.
The Caterpillar Foundation and Project Lead the Way have played a major role in bringing computer science classes to all Cobb middle schools, setting up students for success in more STEM classes once they reach high school.
"They keep their curriculum up to date with what is going on in industry and help us to help the teachers to just really connect with that and provide meaningful opportunities for students," said Cobb School's career education coordinator, Sapph Espinoza.
"The Caterpillar Foundation focuses on workforce readiness. And one of the ways in which we're really making an impact is through our partners, like Project Lead the Way, where we engage with them across the country, with schools to be able to implement programs in some education, in advanced manufacturing, as well as in digital technology," said Caterpillar President, Asha Varghese.
At Walton, the robotics team has already seen the benefits of having these outside groups mentor teachers and students along the way.
"It has allowed me to learn so much about engineering, whether that's from teamwork to documentation to actual manufacturing. And as a team, it has really impacted us. Most of our build team has gone through these engineering classes, so it really helps us not have to teach fundamentals and just get straight to work when competition season comes around. Since we only have six weeks to build the robots, we're really able to build a great competitive robot with the help of our mentors," said Walton senior, Gabriella.
At Cobb Schools, the partnership between the Caterpillar Foundation and PLTW helps give schools specific guidance to help continue to grow their STEM resources, which has already proven to be successful.
"We can't just hope that they're prepared. We have to do very focused, thoughtful work as partners to make sure that they're prepared. And the students we met today, I have no doubt that they're going to go be incredibly successful," said PLTW President and CEO, Dr. David Dimmett.
