Fairview South School District 72, one of the first Niles Township middle school districts to field a robotics team and fully embrace science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, was recently honored.
The district was recognized as a Project Lead The Way Distinguished District for providing broad access to learning opportunities for students through its STEM programs.
Project Lead the Way is a nonprofit organization that serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade and teachers in more than 10,500 schools in the United States, according to officials. Only 30 districts or schools in the country receive this recognition, they said.
“We’ve been a Project Lead the Way district for close to 10 years,” said Mike Lopatka, principal of fifth to eighth grade at Fairview. “I was teacher here before I was a principal, and seeing what the kids have been capable of creating and building, it’s really amazing.”
Many area school districts now have delved deeply into STEM learning, and a first Niles Township robotics competition for such students was recently held at Lincoln Junior High School.
In the last 10 years, Project Lead the Way programs have come to replace more old-school drafting labs or wood shops that used to be part of schools, Lopatka said.
But before many of the Niles Township districts started with their programs, Fairview had already fielded a robotics team that qualified for a national championship competition.
Project Lead the Way runs a program called “Gateway” for middle school students and “Launch” for younger students. Fairview students from an early age on get a full quarter of Project Lead the Way programs, said Mark Fijor, School District 72 director of technology.
“What Project Leads the Way really does is it provides that structure and format that gives students access to STEM learning,” Fijor said. “It’s up to the schools to determine how they implement that.”
In a basement classroom at Fairview in March, fifth graders wrestled with the challenges of creating an automated car to be maneuvered by remote control. The students said they began learning robotics in fourth grade.
“The biggest challenge for students is that they learn differently here,” said Barry Cory, who teaches technology at Fairview. “A lot of students are used to looking up something online and getting the answer that way, but here there is no right answer to any one of these problems.”
Educators say a big benefit of the program is also how kids work together to come up with solutions.
“I like robotics,” said fifth grader Christel Mostareon, 11. “I like building things with other people because then everyone helps and it comes out better.”
Fifth grader Alex Wolski admitted the projects are challenging and they can get frustrating.
“Sometimes it can get devastating,” he said. “You try doing something and all of a sudden, you find you can’t do this and everything starts again. It gets confusing.”
But then there are those moment when something works, he said.
“It’s a happy feeling,” Wolski said. “You feel proud that you actually got it to do what you wanted. This is not easy stuff so it’s feels really good when something works.”
To be eligible for Project Lead the Way’s special designation, at least 20 percent of students had to participate in Project Lead the Way programming during the 2016-2017 school year.
“These (School Dist. 72) educators are leaders in what school should look like, and they should be very proud of ensuring students have the knowledge and skills to be career ready and successful on any career path they choose,” said Vince Bertram, president and CEO of Project Lead the Way.
Lopatka said the district’s goal is for Fairview students to have a solid foundation to carry STEM learning through high school.
“We’re at the point now where we’ve built the program up to a level we’re really proud of,” he said. “The type of learning and the different modules we’ve given kids access to is something that we all take really seriously.”
