(MENAFNEditorial)
El Paso TX / What is the main objective of any good school? Ask any of the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math) teachers at the Da Vinci School for Science and the Arts (a T-STEM Academy) and they will tell you it is "to inspire students to achieve." Over the past four years Alexandro Medina the Engineering Instructor at the school has worked with his students on a very special project that has truly motived them to achieve greatness.
The "InSPIRESS Project" (the Innovative System Project for the Increased Recruitment of Emerging STEM Students) is an outreach project designed to attract students into STEM careers by giving them an opportunity to conceptualize and design a scientific payload that will be placed on a spacecraft designed by undergraduate students in the University of Alabama at Huntsville IPT project. During this semester-long interdisciplinary program high school students collaborate with undergraduate engineering students to understand engineering requirements and design process.
"The InSPIRESS program is exceptional because it forces the students to realize that STEM skills are needed regardless of what their academic interests are" said Medina. InSPIRESS also requires them to meet weekly during the course of the program with a UAHuntsville professor via Skype to discuss the project's progress. Students work in teams of five to complete research draft their plan of action analyze design and present their final work. The project culminates in a full-fledged competition with schools around the nation at UAHuntsville. Da Vinci is the only school in Texas that participates in the event.
Every Da Vinci Junior and Senior is required to complete the InSPIRESS program but they are not required to compete. Nonetheless this year 25 Da Vinci students were invited to UAH and brought home eight out of the nine trophies for the competition. "The best high schools are preparing their students for future careers in STEM. InSPIRESS is yet another way for us to reinforce the skills we have taught all year" said Debbie Crinzi Superintendent. She added "all of our charter schools follow a rigorous STEM curriculum from kinder to 12th grade and we are extremely proud of our students and teachers for their accomplishments in May."
Da Vinci School for Science and the Arts is an El Paso Charter School serving grades 6-12 and one of three STEAM based tuition free schools under the El Paso Education Initiative/Burnhamwood District. Howard Burnham and Vista del Futuro Elementary Schools serve kinder to 5th grade. Any corporations or individuals interested in supporting Da Vinci's students at the 2016 InSPIRESS Competition should contact the main office at: 915-584-8499. To learn more about the Da Vinci School visit .
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