BPS celebrates STEM Learning at Annual Region VI Boston STEM Fair

Boston Public Schools (BPS) celebrated the creativity, innovation, and passion of our students at the 79th annual Region VI STEM Fair!

Students presented projects that spoke to the social and scientific issues currently impacting them and their communities.

BPS celebrates STEM Learning at Annual Region VI Boston STEM Fair

Boston Public Schools (BPS) celebrated the creativity, innovation, and passion of our students at the 79th annual Region VI STEM Fair! The Region VI STEM Fair is a wonderful opportunity for students to develop skills, such as collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, developing and testing hypotheses, and data analysis, which all play an important role in our students’ overall success.

STEM is all around us in nearly every aspect of our lives. The City of Boston is home to pioneers in the fields of robotics, biotech, and medicine. Our young people should be immersed in all that our great city has to offer and the Region VI Boston STEM Fair allows our students to express their creativity and learning of key science concepts outside of the classroom.

Students presented projects that spoke to the social and scientific issues currently impacting them and their communities. Among the projects were Planetary Lunar Landing Devices, Wastewater Treatment, Color Choice & Identity, Fire Alarm Safety, Academic Stress & Mindfulness in Seniors, Light Pollution in East Boston, and Cuffless Blood Pressure Devices.

This year, the STEM Fair included:

190 Student Participants
12 Participating Schools
118 Projects submitted for Judging

BPS is grateful to all of our STEM educators who are working every day to foster critical STEM skills in our students and inspire them to apply those learned skills to classroom work and to real-world situations. The STEM Department is committed to continuing to provide programming opportunities for our K-12 students and families throughout the district.

The Region VI Boston STEM Fair Awards Ceremony took place on March 11 at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. The ceremony featured musical performances from students at the O’Bryant School of Math & Science along with a Presentation of Colors by the Community Academy of Science and Health (CASH) JROTC program.

Matolah Dankoff, a Grade 7 Student at Boston Latin School won the Christa McAuliffe Grand Prize for the Junior Division & Cabot Corporation Grand Prize for her project: An Introduction to Hand-Eye Coordination.

Shuting Zhu and Louis Chiu, Juniors at the John D. O’Bryant School of Math & Science won the Christa McAuliffe Grand Prize for the Senior Division, and Sanofi Specialty Care Grand Prize for their project: Cuffless Blood Pressure Measurement Monitor via Pulse Transit Time Analysis and Arduino. They will now represent BPS as the Nominees for the Massachusetts State Delegation for the International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus Ohio in May.
BPS will also have 23 Middle School projects that will move on to compete at the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair in May at Clark University, and 14 High School projects will move on to the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair at Gillette Stadium in April.
The Boston STEM Fair team is grateful to the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center for hosting the 79th Region VI STEM Fair, to the Madison Park Community for hosting the STEM Fair Awards Ceremony, and to the Madison Park Culinary Arts and Hospitality programs, which helped to cater and set up the ceremony.

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Arabic Summer Academy

The goal of the Arabic Summer Academy is to graduate 40 high school students proficient in beginning-level Arabic, and to prepare them for further Arabic study at a BPS high school or as college students. It is an enrichment program for students during the month of July and is organized by Charlestown High School.

Foreign language learning is incredibly important in creating global citizens who can deeply understand and empathize with other people and cultures across the world. By studying Arabic, students are not only able to communicate in a new language but they also learn about the history, culture, geography, religion, and daily life of the different groups of people in the Arab world. Plus, students get to try some new, culturally authentic foods, like hummus, falafel, and tabouleh.

Students at the Arabic Summer Academy at Charlestown High School engaging in different activities to learn Arabic.

Fun Facts about the Arabic Summer Academy

Arabic Summer Academy is open to high school students from overall the district, meaning that we're able to serve a diverse range of students who would otherwise not be in the same classroom together
We go on field trips! Our classic field trip is an adventure to the open market in Haymarket Square, where students must use their Arabic to purchase fresh fruits (and/or veggies, but really, what high school student wants to buy vegetables?) from some of the Moroccan merchants who run the stalls
We focus on building students' language skills so they can communicate in spontaneous, real world ways -- with students speaking and writing Arabic on Day #1
Our students have gone on to study Arabic at competitive colleges, with some students doing study-abroad programs in places like Aman and Marrakesh

Quick Links

Title I EL (META) Website

Before/After School Accounts Website

Student Activity Accounts Website

Current Grant Opportunities

Intent to Apply Form

Grants Guidelines Circular

Grants Management Library

Feedback

Tell us how we are doing! We welcome all feedback, comments and questions.

Arabic Summer Academy Fast Facts

Funder: Federal - STARTALK
Award Amount: $90,000
Time Period: 1 year
Number of Students Served: 40
Schools Served: all high school students, program run out of Charlestown High School