When community and industry work together with public schools, phenomenal opportunities happen for students.
Years in the making, the STEM Academy at Columbus High School emerged as a community collaboration, one that provides hands-on experiences, secondary certifications, and dual credit courses for students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
Developed around local community needs and potential, the school has grown the Academy in size and scope through input from area business and industry partners, routinely gathering data from current trends in the field and transposing those ideas and skills into the program’s curriculum to prepare students for the jobs of the real world.
On any given day, students participate in courses from robotics to mechatronics to more traditional programs like woodworking and automotive. Outside the classroom, those lessons are supplemented by job shadowing, career and job fairs, field trips, internships, and mentoring all with the goal of providing authentic, rich experiences for students to give them a “leg up” and to grow and retain talent in Columbus.