Returning to campus for the first time in what feels like a lifetime, a new building catches your eye.
It looks familiar, but you can tell from the façade that the electricity of something new is buzzing inside.
Curious, you poke your head through the door and what you see astounds you.
High schools kids revved with excitement, engineering robots, designing software and coding computers, among other feats.
Having attended Laguna while the STEM expansion was just a fledgling project, you’re shocked at how it’s grown into a full-scale collaboration, complete with its own building.
This is the ultimate goal of Laguna’s STEM expansion program. “A center for creative engineering and in which would be computer science workshops and actual engineering and designing going on,” math department chair Paul Chiment said.
Mr. Chiment, along with Ms. Staci Richard, Mr. Dan Ary and, returning to Laguna, Mr. Zack Moore, will be spearheading Laguna’s plan to expand and integrate the STEM subjects—Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
“We initially will focus on introducing engineering courses and expanding upon our existing technology courses,” Mr. Moore said.
He explains the plan for the STEM expansion in more detail: “There will not be anything ground-breaking next year, except for the new courses. Next year will be more of a planning time and a chance to conceptualize a K-12 STEM program.
Long term, we will be looking to infuse STEM into every year of a Laguna education.”
Reiterating the end goal, “we will create a Maker space on the Upper School campus that will provide engineering students the work environment to tackle more complex problems and projects,” Mr. Moore said.
Currently, Lower School students are getting a taste of what’s to come.
“Fifth and sixth grade students are taking part in a coding club. They are coding with SCRATCH and Java,” Mr. Moore said.
The students are also involved in a hands-on program that will introduce them to robotics through LEGO, while exercising their science and mathematics abilities, as well as integrating social studies and communication skills.
Within the Upper School, students are taking part in a robotics club led by Mr. Mike Barnick, where they are working with the Arduino platform.
Next year, Mr. Moore will return and serve as the director of this program.
As the program grows, he will collaborate with various teachers to offer STEM based electives.
“STEM is the integration of the subjects. It’s coming up with projects,” Mr. Chiment said.
He is looking forward to potentially adding computer programming to the class list next year: “AP Computer Science for 11th and 12th graders. Eighth, 9th and 10th graders can do an introduction to computer programming.”
Mr. Chiment said he hopes “to see a certificate or credential upon graduation that says you have special emphasis in STEM.”
“Throughout your high school career, most of your community service would be STEM based, then before graduation, your senior project could also be STEM based.”
So why is Laguna implementing this program now?
According to Mr. Chiment, most careers created for the 21st century demand not simply expertise in the four fields of STEM but also the long-term result of their integration: “the need for modern thinkers will be to be able to integrate the reasoning of science, the concepts and techniques of math, the creative problem solving of engineering, and the language of software design.”
It is clear that Laguna students are up to the task of inputting life and enthusiasm into the new programs that will be available.
Middle school students are looking forward to enjoying the STEM program throughout their high school career.
“I can’t wait to learn about computers, so I can make the Matrix, but for real. The expansion of the STEM program at Laguna will help me in a future filled with new technology,” eighth grader Maddy Lazarovits said.
Prospective biomedical engineering major, senior Erica Keane expressed interest in returning to Laguna to enhance the program. “I would gladly come back to Laguna to foster future students’ interest in the science and share my knowledge in the field of engineering,” she said.
With all the excitement surrounding the STEM expansion, it will only be a matter of time before the abstract center filled with high school kids eagerly innovating becomes a reality.