PCSD STEM program continues to expand

The Parkers Chapel School District’s STEM program continues to grow and, to mark this fact, the district held the second annual STEM Night on August 3.

At a PCSD board meeting on July 21, STEM program director Lyn Coffman talked about the then-upcoming Family STEM Night and the benefits it and the program as a whole bring the district.

“We partner with various industries and organizations who come and do science, engineering, technology and math activities with our kids. Last year we had a really great time,” Coffman said.

Local industry leaders including Lanxess and Lockheed Martin participated in the event, along with others including Georgia Pacific.

The event opened with a reception for the participating businesses and attendees and, besides the activities, included door prizes and concluded with a laser light show.

“It’s a win-win. Businesses win because they are getting a skilled work force later on, our school wins because we are forming those relationships with those businesses, which makes us stronger, and our kids win because they are getting those skills that they need to survive and forming these mentorships with business leaders,” Coffman said.

PC’s STEM program is new - it is currently in its second year - and Coffman discussed new curriculum that will be added this year.

“Two years ago we got our program approval to start our STEM engineering program for 9 - 12. We offered level 1 — introduction to engineering — and our teacher had full classes and lots of students interested in engineering,” she said.

This year, the curriculum will expand, along with the number of students who are able to participate.

”We will start level 2 — principles of engineering — and we also got a grant in the past few months to expand the program to 7th and 8th grade. We will start offering, next year, robotics and automation for 7th grade, medical career detectives for 8th grade. They’ll get to dissect sheep brains and act like criminal investigators in some sense,” Coffman said.

The growth in the program does not stop there. Next year, Coffman said, the program will add classes including design and modeling and a flight and space class, also for 7th and 8th grades.

PCSD superintendent John Gross said during the July 21 meeting that Coffman helped to attract “over $200,000” in grants for the district’s STEM program.

Prior to the expansion, the STEM program also consisted of a computer science class for freshmen.

The program also includes the Maker Space building, where students can utilize tools including 3D printers, VR glasses and drones.