Helfrich Park STEM Academy is one of six middle schools in the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation. It is one of two middle schools that serve the student population within the Reitz High School attendance district. Currently the school’s enrollment is 472. Our school community is with 85% white, 6.1% multi-racial, 4.4% black and 4.2% Hispanic. 50.8% of the student population qualifies as economically disadvantaged and 16.3% of the population receives special education services.
Eight year ago, Helfrich Park chose ago to capitalize on the strong STEM opportunities present within its teaching staff and the school district to focus on STEM education. Helfrich Park has several differentiating qualities that set it apart from the traditional middle school within the district. The student schedule, all students receive additional instructional time in math and science. Additionally, all students are enrolled in a STEM elective course. All students are receiving a PLTW Gateway course. Additionally, majority of the students are also receiving a computer science/computing skills course. Starting in the 2017-18 school year, students have used the PLTW Computer Science curriculum. Helfrich Park is also the only middle school in the district which collaborates with post-secondary partners to provide on-campus, hands-on, science labs.
One of the STEM goals of our school is to provide multiple STEM-related after-school experiences and competitions that allow students to dive deeper into STEM-related fields. Our community stakeholders have really stepped forward providing valuable resources for our kids. Each grade level has at least one community partner that focuses on providing resources. These resources provide speakers in house and hands on experiences that focus on STEM activities. These partners are also generous enough to allow on-site visits that give the students a real sense of a work environment.
Through feedback and other conversations, Helfrich has also added multiple after school activities that foster the STEM experience. We have added a STEM club that meets after school weekly which involves a community partner experience. The robotics team was also added and is able to attend competitions and host a competition each year.
The STEM integration is very evident when you enter our school. Students are engaged on STEM activities that are hands on and focused on preparing them for real world activities. The teachers and staff work diligently to prepare our students to be active, responsible, members of society that will allow them to be productive members of our community.
Helfrich Park did not start out as a STEM school. The school community felt it was the right thing to do for kids. We believe that our kids needed more exposure to real-world problems that focused on allowing them to see how they could be successful and pursue their dreams. We focused on giving the students the experience and opportunities with real authentic problems to show us how gifted they actually are. With the assistance of the entire community, we feel that we have positioned our students for success with the use of STEM activities. With this being said, we have continued to strive forward and seek feedback on how we can improve our STEM program because we feel the students need and deserve this opportunity.