STEM IMPACT Program aims to ease transition from high school to college
STEM IMPACT Program aims to ease transition from high school to college
STORY BY AMANDA NELSON
Transitioning from high school to college can be a struggle for many students . The Fayette County STEAM Academy is designed to ease that transition through its partnership with the University of Kentucky .
The idea for the school emerged in 2010 , when 14 leaders from Fayette County Public Schools joined the first cohort of the UK College of Education ’ s Next Generation Leadership Academy .
“ These leaders came together , and they began to look at models outside Kentucky , such as High Tech High in San Diego and Reynoldsburg eSTEM High School and Metro Early College High School in Ohio ,” said Linda France , director of the UK College of Education ’ s Next Generation Leadership Academy . “ They looked at products students were creating , and as they compared these to products Kentucky students were creating , they saw a competitive edge that students outside of Kentucky would have on our graduates . So , as they visited these schools and talked to these leaders , they began to ask questions like ‘ what if ?’ and ‘ why not ?’ and out of that , the vision for the STEAM Academy was born .”
While many are familiar with the concept of STEM ( science , technology , engineering and mathematics ), the added “ A ” for the arts is relatively new and essential to STEM education , according to Tina Stevenson , director of STEAM Academy .
“ The arts are very important to STEAM , because to design something means that you need to be creative ,” she said . “ I feel like we sometimes forget about the design part of a process .”
“ The arts are very important to STEAM , because to design something means that you need to be creative .”
The STEAM Academy opened in Lexington in 2013 , temporarily housed in the former Johnson Elementary School on East Sixth Street . It offers students a blended learning instructional program , focusing on mastery learning , personalized instruction and opportunities to engage in resources at UK . The school functions under a partnership between FCPS and UK ( led by the College of Education ), offering dual / college credit opportunities in UK courses taught by UK faculty and “ near peer ” instructors ( undergraduate and graduate students majoring in education ).
For students who master content quickly , an option even exists to graduate early , as long as they can prove they have a viable plan in place to continue their education at the next level . Five students chose that path last year .
The school is constantly evolving , as all involved work to transform traditional learning processes into more innovative models . Last semester saw the addition of a wide-scale internship program . Each Thursday , 195 students ( more than half the school ) leave the building for work experiences at UK and throughout the community . Many students have also participated in labs and even undergraduate research at UK to further enhance their innovative educational experience .
“ We have focused on being open to changing core components of the high school model if it helps students prepare for their futures . We have built components like internship , our digital learning environment , projects within classes and dual credit opportunities to help students gain the real-world
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