Technology, art and Haudenosaunee culture combine at innovative school
STEAM Academy has vision to provide safe and holistic environment for students
BRANTFORD — Fifteen-year-old Jarrod Wardell wants to work in engineering and coding, but didn’t know there was more than one Indigenous language before stepping into the halls of Six Nations Polytechnic’s STEAM Academy last September.
Chevy Johnson, 14, isn’t all that interested in a career in technology, but wants to become a midwife. She speaks some Cayuga at home, where she anticipates one day becoming a clan mother following in the footsteps of her aunt.
Nolan Jon, who speaks some Mohawk at home, followed his friends to STEAM, but says he’s been surprisingly interested in the technology he’s learning to use.
These are three of the first 33 Grade 9 students at the innovative technology, engineering, arts and mathematics program at Six Nations Polytechnic’s Brantford campus, that blends art, technology and Haudenosaunee culture into its foundation. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
Wardell, Johnson and Jon all came to the school by different paths, but enthusiastically say they’d recommend the “unique, friendly and happy” environment to any student.
Starting in Grade 10, students will begin taking dual-credit high school and Mohawk College courses that
will allow them to graduate with a high school diploma and a software engineering technician college diploma after five years.
STEAM’s principal, Aaron Hobbs, said they wanted to start small so they could be adaptable, but already have interest from 107 new Grade 9 students starting in the fall. The school, on 411 Elgin St. in the city’s former Mohawk College campus, has five teaching staff this year, but that is expected to more than double next year, including adding a counsellor and Mohawk language teacher.
This is in addition to a Cayuga language class that all Grade 9 students are taking this semester.
“At first I think people aren’t sure if the school will keep going,” Wardell said. “But now parents are like, ‘Oh, it’s still going this might be a good idea.’”
The students have access to therapy dogs — “meditation Mondays” — and often leave the school for nature walks or other trips, including visiting IBM.
“It’s part of our larger vision of things is to make the school a really holistic and safe place for the students, where they can come in and really feel at home,” Hobbs said. This includes finding staff that are not only qualified, but “the right fit.”
The students take gym classes at a private facility with a massive gym and exercise rooms next door, The RISE Centre. This is where five STEAM Academy students trained in powerlifting and have qualified for world championships in November in Orlando, Fla.
The students took a technology class first semester, but the use of technology is also woven into student life. The teens are all given personal laptops, classrooms are equipped with smartboards, and the school uses an online program called Brightspace where all their coursework is listed and available for parents to check in. They use QR codes in classes, including a Shakespeare scavenger hunt around the school for English class.
Students can access 3D printers, virtual reality and Wacom tablets.
The first crop of students are a mix of backgrounds. About 80 per cent come from Six Nations, with the rest coming from Brantford and surrounding communities. It’s about 60 to 40 per cent ratio of boys to girls.
“Everyone throws around the word reconciliation, but the school is really open to all,” Hobbs said.
It’s also been important to include a focus on arts — STEAM not just STEM.
“We really think that creativity is important” for a well-rounded education, Hobbs said.
But at its foundation the school is about respecting Indigenous culture.
“We really want the school to be based on Haudenosaunee culture, that really is the ultimate piece that makes this school unique,” Hobbs said.
“The technology pieces are important, really important to the entire program, but (it’s) the language and culture that forms the atmosphere of the school.”