According to Lakeside principal Felicia Turner, the state board of education certified the school May 16, and it was a day Turner said they all won't soon forget.
"For us it was a goal that we had and it really showed all of us that by pulling together we can make it," Turner said. "And the kids have really just been amazing, I have been blown away by how excited they were."
The certification is the culmination of four years of implementing, tweaking and meeting state standards, to build a curriculum around STEM.
Some of the projects students work on with the STEM curriculum includes engineering and designing small motorized boats and cars and using their calculations from speed tests they conduct to make their boat travel in a straight line or make their cars go the fastest.
Turner said the students were even given the task of engineering and designing homes that can withstand wind, and also conducted research and experiments to solve a specific problem of their choice.
"It's just amazing how you can just give them stuff and how they can kind of come up with their own design," Turner said. "Part of STEM is designing and tearing down and changing your design to be better."
The school has also adopted several new clubs for students to participate in including an E-cyber group, a robotics team and an eco-team, both of which competed at state levels and won.
Turner said it all started when she a group of principals paid a visit to a STEM Academy in Savannah four years ago.
"It was a charter school. Even though it wasn't exactly like our school, we got to see kids working," Turner recalled of the visit. "I was just so amazed at everything those kids were doing."
The school altered their curriculum by reorganizing the way their classes were blocked, so students could have time to work on projects, often conducted in a group environment, to encourage collaboration. Turner said it was certainly a team effort.
"I along with the faculty just felt that this was something that our kids, our community, needed, that we needed to get this and we were determined to do this," Turner said, adding that business partners in education and parents were also part of the certification process.
Turner explained that the state representatives who came to review the school said they took an opportunity to share the highlights of their trip to the school
"They talked about how the business partners and the parents were just blown away by the level of maturity and engagement of the students," Turner recalled. "And the parents could say that my child never liked science, never liked math, and loves it."
But it's only the beginning Turner said.
With Lakeside Middle School now certified, other schools are looking to Turner and her staff to promote the STEM curriculum throughout the county. And teachers at Lakeside Middle School are already gearing up for a new and improved year.
Turner said they are looking forward to adding more technology and CAD programs at the school for students to work on graphic design, along with enlarging their Maker's Space in the school library.
"It's like how we think now and I think that's really exciting," Turner said of looking towards a new year.
Turner and the school were recognized by the Columbia County Board of Education, and the State School Superintendent Richard Woods is planning a visit to the school in August, to present the school with a banner.
"I would have to say that the other principals have been so supportive, and just so excited. I've gotten personal messages and phone calls and one sent a huge fruit bouquet for us. I'm just really proud that we were first and that there is a (STEM certified school) in Columbia County," Turner said. "It was important for us."
©2017 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
