STEM CENTER FOR INNOVATION

St. Mary’s STEM Center for Innovation is a vital dimension of our school community. It brings our students together through a hive of connected spaces–as a community of artists, scientists, innovators, explorers, readers, and learners. The STEM Center for Innovation is home to our media center, collaborative workspaces, conference room, and two Innovative Learning Labs and will host maker spaces and digital media and gaming/e-sports interests.

innovative learning Labs

St. Mary’s is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Classes utilize our two Innovative Learning Labs to:

Participate in project-based hands-on activities
Explore and use class STEM project buckets to design solutions to problems
Use virtual reality goggles to explore difficult-to-grasp concepts
Innovate new products with 3D printers
Work on coding, Arduino, and robotics projects that allow students to create interactive electronic objects

Our STEM initiative encourages and rewards flexible thinking, risk-taking, innovation, and collaborative and individual work efforts.

TECHNOLOGY & Innovation

ViewSonic Interactive Displays

All classrooms and our Center for Innovation have the latest in technology with ViewSonic ViewBoard interactive digital flat panel display. The high-resolution displays bring interactive lessons to life. Students experiment with simulations and can test ideas. Students use ViewBoards as a class or in small group settings.

3D Printers

Learning about Egyptian burial traditions? Design and print a sarcophagus. Learning about natural disasters? Innovate, design, and print a new alert system prototype. Our Center for Innovation introduces engineering and manufacturing principles to students of all ages. We are creating the next generation of dreamers and doers.

Robotics

We ignite curiosity and encourage exploration. Our robotics student group creates, builds, and programs robots to complete tasks.

Makers Space

Students with common DIY interests meet, socialize, and collaborate. Activities in this area support computer-aided design, 3-D printing, digital art, crafting, software design, sewing, coding, ceramics, film production, movie/film producing, photography, clay modeling, and take-apart sessions are only a few student interest groups that explore their talents and skills in this area for the STEM Center for Innovation.

Innovative Activities

Grades 3 – 5: Young students can build solutions to problems using LEGOs. Students receive a challenge with engineering goals and must devise a solution. Simple solutions might include:

Bridge with Load Capacity
Pressure-proof Structures
Drop Challenge
Labyrinth
Staircase and Elevator

Media Center

Drop Everything and Read

Instilling the love of reading is a top priority at St. Mary’s.

Our teachers and media specialist aim to make your child a lifelong reader. SMA provides students with choices in what they read through self-selection from our library and couples this with class novel studies.

St. Mary’s maintains a library of over 5,000 books. Additionally, we have classroom sets of decoder books for young readers, high-interest books for beginner readers, and novels for novel studies for more advanced exploration of literature studies. An engaging selection of classical literature is included at every grade level.

We do DEAR time–where we Drop Everything And Read self-selected books for enjoyment. We take reading seriously.

STEM CENTER FOR INNOVATION

innovative learning Labs

Media Center

Director of Admissions

Director of Admissions