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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Boston Community Hub Schools

Our Communities. Our Schools. Our Voices

Vision: A Boston where every student flourishes!

What can happen in my Community School?

Boston Community Hub Schools is a long-term strategy to actively engage the resources of each community around student and family success. Our approach is based on a national model at work in many types of school communities nationwide. In a Boston Community Hub School, the school community intentionally looks at its assets (the great things that are happening) and opportunities (the things they want to improve) to take action to make their school-community the best it can be.

“This strategy allows the culture of the community to live and breathe throughout the academic setting, and throughout the lives of our children.”

How Does it Work?

POWERFUL STUDENT & FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Families and students actively participate in the school community and are key partners in decision-making, shaping the school’s environment, priorities, and partnerships.

COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP, SHARED POWER & VOICE

Families, students, teachers, principals, and community partners co-create a culture of professional learning, collective trust, and shared responsibility as they make decisions together.

EXPANDED AND ENRICHED LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Before and after-school, weekend, and summer programs provide expanded time, expanded staffing, and expanded opportunities for learning and engagement.

RIGOROUS, COMMUNITY-CONNECTED CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION

Teaching and learning in the school infuse high-level content and skills with real-world learning opportunities.

CULTURE OF BELONGING, SAFETY, AND CARE

The school climate is welcoming and fosters trust among students, families, partners, and staff.

INTEGRATED SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT

To promote healthy learning and development, a dedicated team composed primarily of school staff and community partners intentionally and systematically coordinates services, supports, and opportunities that foster individual and collective well-being, using an assets-based approach to nurture the strengths and address the needs of students and families.

Current Boston Community Hub Schools

A map of Boston with each community hub school location noted

“No type of pedagogy, however effective, can single-handledly remove the barriers of racism, discrimination, homophobia, segregation, islamophobia, homelessness, access to college, and concentrated poverty, but antiracist pedagogy combined with grassroots organizing can prepare students and their families to demand the impossible in the fight for eradicating these persistent and structural barriers.”

― Dr. Bettina Love, We Want to Do More Than Survive (2019)

Did you know that Community Schools are a national equity strategy?

In Boston, we are centering our implementation around the Community Schools Forward framework developed by the Brookings Institute, National Center for Community Schools, Coalition for Community Schools,s and IEL. This model builds on the four pillars of community schools and adds a direct connection to academic learning and SEL, two priority areas for BPS

Questions? Reach out!
hubschools@bostonpublicschools.org

We are proud to partner with the YMCA of Greater Boston and Boston Teachers Union on this equitable school improvement strategy.