St. Mary School is the first and only school in Geauga County to receive the Ohio Department of Education’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) designation.
School Receives STEM Designation
St. Mary School is the first and only school in Geauga County to receive the Ohio Department of Education’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) designation. Thanks to new legislation, elementary schools are now able to receive the designation, but it is not easily given.
St. Mary School has been working on the application process and visiting Columbus to meet with the STEM committee throughout the year. The process helped the school further solidify the teaching that takes place at St. Mary’s and plan for continued learning adventures in the future.
The Ohio STEM Learning Network committee consists of the superintendent of public instruction, representatives from the departments of Higher Education and Development and four appointed members of the public with expertise in business or STEM fields.
Principal Mary Petelin said, “This was a team effort in collaboration with faculty, students, partners, parents, PTU and parishioners and led by the principal and STEM coordinator. St. Mary School Chardon holds a vision of continuing and growing relationships with their STEM Partners, which include iSTEM High School, Holden Arboretum, Hiram College, Total Micro Technology, Parker and many more. A mutual collaboration with our partners in business and the community will only enhance our students’ educational experience and better prepare them for the future.”
This year, St. Mary students participated in many cross-curricular experiences that start with a problem and work to a solution, utilizing all subject areas to do so. Junior high students participated in the Cleveland Clinic Partners in Design program to help create a new app that could be utilized with inhalers, in addition to general distance learning opportunities, which earned the school the distinction of also becoming a Cleveland Clinic Banner School for the year. They also worked on a STEM aligned musical and a Punkin’ Chuckin’ catapult challenge making their learning both exciting and fun.
Lower hall students took on a “One Hall-One Book” exploration of “The BFG” by Roald Dahl. Elementary students worked to build ladders, test states of matter and much more throughout their reading.
All families were invited to step into the pages of the book, which were built into the halls of the school a result of design challenges tackled by students grades K-5.
The entire school fused service learning and STEM into a “One Nation Under God” project culminating in the creation of a United States Flag, which was flown over the school for the anniversary of Sept. 11. Next year the school has already planned to solve a lunch problem by investigating ways the school can build its own greenhouse to supplement the lunch program offerings. Full descriptions of the projects and many more are available on the school’s website: www.stmaryschoolchardon.org.
