Distinguished STEM School

Carson Middle School Recognized as Distinguished STEM School
Posted on 05/04/2020
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Carson Middle School has been recognized as a Distinguished School for performing an exemplary Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program. Only 176 schools across the country received the top honors for their commitment to student engagement and access.

Those schools and districts earning the recognition nationally have empowered students to thrive in an evolving world and have achieved exemplary results from their PLTW programs.

PLTW is a nonprofit organization that provides transformative learning experiences for PreK-12-grade students and teachers through pathways in computer science, engineering and biomedical science.

"This nomination is only given to schools with a large enrollment of the school population in the PLTW program, which, in our case, also includes underrepresented populations and Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL) students," said Katelyn O'Loughlin, sixth grade STEM teacher at Carson Middle School. "We have a distinguished STEM program because of our hard work and dedication to serving our students. Our deep belief that all children can achieve and deserve a STEM education makes a difference."

Through the PLTW program, students developed STEM knowledge as well as in-demand, transportable skills that they will use both in school and for the rest of their lives, on any career path they take. PLTW Gateway empowers students to lead their own discovery and uncover a range of paths and possibilities they can look forward to in high school and beyond.

Carson Middle School uses gateway PLTW classes to bridge students into the Carson High School CTE program. They strive to align with the high schools in terms of Career and College Readiness standards. They also have programs at the middle school level that feed into High School Programs, such as Robotics club, Health Sciences, Information and Media Technologies and Skilled and Technical Sciences.

In all STEM classes, the school includes a unit or incorporate different careers related to a particular STEM field of study. This helps students to learn about those careers so they can start to plan a pathway for high school and beyond. The STEM classrooms also create real-world work environments where students get to imagine and design solutions by listening to others and sharing their ideas.

Project Lead the Way Classes offered through the Carson Middle School STEM Program include the following.

  • App Creators 
  • Automation and Robotics 
  • Computer Science for Innovators and Makers
  • Design and Modeling 
  • Energy and the Environment 
  • Flight and Space
  • Green Architecture 
  • Medical Detectives 

Carson Middle and Eagle Valley Middle School are numbered among the more than 11,500 schools across the U.S. in offering PLTW programs to students. To view the list of 2019-20 PLTW Distinguished Schools and Districts, click here.