STEM Families,

There are so many great things going on at STEM Academy! From the display of student art works to the recognitions of the innovations of our students, we have so many reasons to be proud of our STEM family. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of serving your family!

January was a busy month. We have just wrapped up our shadowing and lottery season, and we are looking ahead. February is packed with field trips, student recognitions, and the recognition of our new lottery members through special ceremonies at both the middle school and high school. We appreciate all of the support that you offer to us as we continue to work to keep our Academy 'Ahead of the Curve'.

Wishing you all the best this winter season!

Jennifer Jensen, M.Ed.

Director

On Thursday, January 9th, STEM Academy transformed the 2nd floor of the STEM wing, including the Community Learning Center in to a coding extravaganza. Students had the opportunity to fly drones, and learn to program Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Scratch, Scratch Jr., Star Logo Nova, Micro:bits, CyberSecurity, Finch Robots, Paralax, EV3s, and EDU MindCraft. Graphic Arts demonstrations were held in the art room and in the science lab there were three Oculus VR Stations (Rift and Quest) and two GOOGLE VR (Cardboard) Stations. In the hallways we had Sphero Sparks, Mini-Spheros, and Ozobots activities.

The event was open-to-the community, with our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade STEM Families, as well as families from across the district who are interested in STEM for their kids, participating. We had thirty 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, and one high school student who assisted with facilitating the activities and 10 STEM teachers supervising the stations. According to Mrs. Sandy Geisbush, "this event was a lot of fun and we hope this will become an annual event".

On Tuesday, January 28th, our very own STEM Scholars ventured to iFly to for an experience all their own! When asked about the impact that this experience had on the faculty and students who attended, 6th Grade English Teacher Cheryl Hernandez stated, "this is one of the many reasons I am so thankful to be a part of the STEM family!! Our administration supports innovative education practices: both informal and formal education experiences! The students were led by an instructor about the engineering and design process of the wind tunnel, the science that goes behind it all, and talked about career paths with the students! The IFly STEM Experience was incredible!!" We are glad that you all had fun, and we look forward to being able to offer more of these types of opportunities to our students in the future!

When invited to attend the STEAM festival at Thousand Oaks Elementary on January 14th, our STEM Ambassadors got all charged up! They sought out a way to be able to share some STEM concepts with the visiting elementary school families. With the help of M&M science, the students performed STEM-onstrations of molecules colliding resulting in chemical reactions. And it doesn't hurt that they had some M&Ms to share! Thank you for being great ambassadors for our program. You make STEM proud!!