From students who fancy themselves future engineers to students who aren’t quite certain what an engineer does, our collaboration with Sanger Unified School District hopes to impact all young minds by enhancing STEM outreach at the elementary and middle school level. By increasing access for under-served students, we hope to encourage even more engineering career pathways in Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Geomatics, Biomedical, Environmental, Agriculture, and Engineering Tech fields.
Our expanded curriculum is created with consultation from Reedley College, Fresno State, and other universities to ensure that K-8 students are prepared for university-level expectations. We will also form success teams that share dynamic resources with Reedley College, such as cross-trained counselors and math tutoring. On our K-8 campuses, we will be forming exciting new clubs such as robotics teams to grow interest in engineering activities and allow our students to compete. In addition to those teams, we will establish three “Femineers” clubs to encourage young women to go into engineering.
Our current progress includes expanding our AG-STEM program through our dedicated agriculture teacher and our existing 2-acre farm dedicated to an Ag Science lab. We will be holding an AG-STEM field week to give students access to agriculture drones, robots, and industry representatives. We hope this exposure will not only excite the students but inspire them to pursue STEM careers. Washington Academic Middle School currently provides classes in Engineering, Ag Mechanics and Woodshop or STEM to over 345 students under two teachers. Through the combination of these hands-on experiences for young students, we hope to show that STEM careers are accessible and fulfilling. Under the guidance of the newly hired Career Technology Education Curriculum Support Provider at our high school, we hope to support the pursuit of these careers all the way through K-12.
