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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Safe Routes to Schools

The Health and Wellness and Transportation departments are happy to announce the launch of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program in Boston Public Schools through the CDC Partners to Improve Community Health (PICH) grant. We are partnering with the Boston Public Health Commission’s and other city agencies in an effort increase the number of students in grades K - 8, who regularly walk, bike or take the MBTA to school.

Most children and youth don’t meet the national recommendations of 60 minutes of daily physical activity through a combination of in-school and out-of-school activities. A sometimes-overlooked opportunity to help kids to get moving is their commute to and from school. An added bonus of this approach is that students who are physically active arrive at school ready to learn and become better learners!

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) supports efforts to increase students’ active transportation by addressing multiple issues that impact how they commute. These may include inadequate street infrastructure (dangerous intersections, lack of crosswalks, poor sidewalks, etc.), concerns about crime and personal safety, lack of student education about pedestrian safety, and school or community cultures that promote driving. Distance from school has also been a major issue that impacts the commute to school. BPS’ revised school assignment protocol now offers families school options in their ‘walk-to zones’. Each year, an increasing number of BPS students will live within a walkable or bikeable distance to school. The SRTS program will allow schools to get ahead of potential issues by implementing necessary interventions as more students switch to active transportation to school.

BPS is working with city agencies and community organizations to develop an implementation framework. This will include informational materials and communications efforts that reach all BPS students, families and staff, as well as alignment of programming through community partners.

How do BPS Students Say they Get to School? Research by the Safe Routes to School Grant

Summary data of how BPS students report they get to school

We are encouraging all schools to participate in the Hand Tallies going forward to provide data to identify other priority areas of need. Our work is being leveraged through other City of Boston initiatives including Vision Zero and Slow Streets, and we hope to partner with other City departments to help sustain the Safe Routes to School program in Boston Public Schools.

We are working with the Safe Routes to School National Partnership to use evidence-based ‘best practices’ that support successful SRTS initiatives. These can be summarized as the “six E’s: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, Evaluation, and Equity.

Data gathered through hand tallies last Spring and this Fall helped identify 26 schools demonstrating a need for SRTS program. BPS Health and Wellness Department will assist 20 K-8 schools in implementing education and promotion programs that support pedestrian safety. Additional supports will be provided to give students, families, and school staff the ability to build school capacity to self-advocate for and build SRTS programming.

A nationally known engineering firm has been engaged to conduct walk audits at these schools. Additionally, in many school neighborhoods, Healthy Community Champions will offer community-based supports and partnerships for SRTS implementation. Funding also supports SRTS Wellness Champions at the 20 priority schools to lead SRTS efforts.