GREENE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Students attending the Greene County Technical Education Center now have access to state-of-the-art equipment that will provide them with a hands-on learning environment in the new Manufacturing Engineering course. 

This engineering course is the first of its kind in Virginia, and students were the ones who asked for it when they responded to surveys the school put out. 

The class allows students to go from being intimidated by unknown machinery to having their moment when they master machines and are able to design bridges and play with robots by the end of their class. 

Students are learning everything from the design process to manufacturing items. They learn mechanical and electrical engineering elements to develop their projects from the ground up.

“Students have been really positive overall," said instructor Keith Congdon. "We got a really phenomenal group of kids who are excited about all the stuff we can do. They come in with ideas already instead of me directing them what they have to do, they come with ideas. 'Can we do this, Mr. Congdan?' And it's so nice to be able to say yes to them to do that.” 

Students like Wyatt Jones enjoy the challenges and say the hands-on experience will help them in the future. 

“It's not really what I've learned, it's just the experiences that I've had, and getting to work with robots and things like that is definitely a fun thing to do,” he said.

GCTEC says this course allows students to create a "collaborative learning environment” where they can create physical prototypes in a variety of materials.