Put Engineering Associate Dean Brandon Weeks in a position of power, and the next thing you know, he is granting pay raises to the teachers at Incline High School.

Unfortunately, his authority was short-lived. Weeks was one of many community leaders participating in the Feb. 29 Principal for a Day event coordinated by the nonprofit Education Alliance of Washoe County and the Washoe County School District. The event, now in its third year, is designed to spark collaboration and partnerships between regional leaders and area schools — something Weeks and Incline High School Principal Tierney Cahill discussed in detail.

Cahill also shared details on school initiatives, including its participation in the national Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams program, which has teams of high school students solve problems facing their communities. The Incline High team, led by engineering instructor Adam Shoda, is working on how to manage snow loads on structures. The team is one of eight high school teams around the country selected for the program, and all teams will present prototypes of their inventions later this year at MIT. 

Weeks got a chance to meet with Shoda and some of his students, along with culinary arts teacher Neal Young, social studies teacher Milton Hyams and others.

Cahill also toured Weeks through the mountain school, located in the Sierra Nevada and sitting at an elevation of about 6,350 above sea level. Here, students might carry a single ski as a hall pass and snow cornices will form on the rooftops after a big storm, such as the one that hit the day of Weeks’ visit. The school currently is in the middle of a $27 million building expansion that will add a “student hub” and culinary kitchen to the school, along with new JROTC facilities, remodeled administration offices and security upgrades.

Building bridges between the University of Nevada, Reno and area schools is a priority for the College of Engineering, which offers nine degree programs in engineering as well as two accelerated programs that allow qualified students to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in as few as five years.