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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Project Updates

Note: for the most up-to-date information, please visit www.bostonpublicschools.org/GND

Project Updates

4/16/21

BCLA/McCormack Head of Schools Announcement

4/1/21

School Culture: Design Team is working with the Leading Learners Institute to craft the mission & vision of the new school to reflect shared values. The first draft was shared for community feedback on 4/21/21.

School Leadership: We are pleased to announce that Ms. Ondrea Johnston has been selected as Head of School for the BCLA-McCormack School Community, effective May 10, 2021.

Facility Renovations:

As part of the first phase of renovations, the McCormack facility will add two science labs and a life skills room for SY21-22
The Design Team and central office are collaborating on assessing the financial investment and priorities for renovating the McCormack building

Partnership with UMass: The Design Team is working with Laura Hayden, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, to identify partnership opportunities

Decisions Made to Date

School Design Elements

The new 7-12 will be an open enrollment pilot school serving the same populations as are currently served by McCormack and BCLA
Student Supports Offered: the merged BCLA-McCormack school will continue to serve their current student strands:

General Education
Inclusion
Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) - Spanish
Emotional Impairment (EI)
Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE)
Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for students with Autism

SY20-21: School will operate on two campuses

Grades 7-9 at Columbia Point (McCormack)
Grades 10-12 at Hyde Park Complex (BCLA)

SY21-22: McCormack facility will add two science labs and a life skills room
SY22-23: All students in grades 7-12 will attend the Columbia Point campus

Assignment & Registration

All current BCLA & McCormack students will be assigned to the newly merged school for SY21-22
If families want to change their preference, they can do so in the appropriate round in 2021:

Round 1 is 1/5 - 1/29 (grades K0, K1, 6, 7, 9)
Round 2 is 2/8 - 4/5 (all other grades)

The new 7-12 school will be called “Boston Community Leadership Academy-McCormack” on all School Choice materials

Additional Resources can be found at bostonpublicschools.org/register