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.

< Back to the Newsroom

Additional Resources

BPS Racial Equity Toolkit

It is the top priority of the Boston Public Schools to provide equity, access, and opportunity for every student while eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps. Research indicates that racial disparities exist in virtually every key indicator of child, family, and community wellbeing. Individual, instructional and structural impacts of race, racism, and other biases are pervasive, and significantly affect key life indicators of success.

The BPS Equity Impact Analysis Tool lays out a clear process and a set of questions to guide the development, implementation, and evaluation of significant policies, initiatives, professional development, programs, instructional practices, and budget issues to explicitly and intentionally create equity. To do this requires ending individual, institutional, and structural racism/bias, and deliberately, thoroughly, and consistently apply a rigorous equity lens to foster a barrier-free environment where all students, regardless of their race or background have the opportunity to achieve. This includes differentiating resource allocations, within budgetary limitations, to provide students with the support and opportunities they need to succeed academically and thrive.

Use this tool every time you are making or reviewing a significant decision as a school or district leader: The Equity Analysis Toolkit provides a set of guiding questions to determine if existing and proposed policies, budgetary allocations, programs, professional development, and instructional practices are likely to close the opportunity gaps for historically marginalized populations within Boston Public Schools.

To view the Equity Impact Analysis Tool, click here.

Restorative Justice

Opening Up, Students Transform a Vicious Cycle

Restorative Justice: One High Schools Path to Reducing Suspensions By Half

Centre for Justice and Reconciliation's 4 Part Tutorial on Restorative Justice

Additional Resources from BPS Departments

Boston Public Schools Office of English Learners

Boston Public Schools Office of Opportunity Gaps Cultural and Linguistically Sustaining Practices Toolkit