I-STEM is an acronym where

I represents “innovation”

HDSB’s current working definition of “innovation” is “the capacity to enhance concepts, ideas, or products to contribute new-to-the-world solutions to complex economic, social, and environmental problems”.

S represents “science”

T represents “technology”

E represents “engineering”

M represents “mathematics”

STEM are the skills to solve these problems. "Doing STEM is a way of thinking and doing - it is following the engineering design process of designing, creating and evaluating solutions to problems and questions and then doing it all again." (Nelson, 2019) 

View the program brochure for an outline of the I-STEM program. Grade 9 students work to develop their “Engineer’s Toolkit”. The framework for this toolkit in Grade 9 is the  Year 1 I-STEM Roadmap​. View the  Year 2 “Entrepreneur's Toolkit” Roadmap  and  Year 3 & 4 “Global Innovator’s Toolkit” Roadmap.

No. Students will be able to participate in elective courses, extra-curriculars, and SHSM programs at Aldershot.

Grade 8 students are welcome to apply from HDSB and other school boards in order to start the program in grade 9.

Applications are open in the fall and typically close before the new year, each year.

The HDSB site hosts the application links, visit it here.

There is no cost to apply for the program. Important to note that there is a program cost of $800, to be paid in equal $200 payments over the four year program.

Applicants will also respond to three questions. The responses to these questions will also be considered. As there is a shortage of females pursuing STEM fields in post-secondary education, the panel will also look to ensure equitable representation with respect to gender.​

Applicants will also respond to 4 questions. The responses to these questions will also be considered. We know that there is a shortage of females pursuing STEM fields in post secondary. The panel will also look to ensure equitable representation with respect to gender.

A random selection process will occur where there are more applications than spots available. If the student meets the application criteria, their application will be entered into a random selection process. In the random selection process, a computer will randomly assign a number to each applicant who has successfully met the application criteria for the number of available spaces. Please note that the random selection process is completed centrally at the board level and not at the school level. 

The process will identify students who will be offered available spaces as well as randomly assign a number to remaining students who will be placed on the I-STEM waitlist. 

In an effort to be as fair as possible, the order of students on the waitlist is random. School staff have no way of seeing any waitlists and, as such, cannot comment on where a student might be placed on a waitlist. ​

In that the I-STEM program is a four-year program, with entry in Grade 9, students can only start in grade 9.

When you're accepted, you will be provided with an online registration portal to join the Halton District School Board internal system. Once this is completed, our guidance team will be able to quickly reach out to you for any additional required documentation.

We host all incoming grade 8 students for a general orientation in May. We will email all families ahead of time so that the incoming students have had a chance to walk through Aldershot before their first day here. If the orientation is missed, rest assured that Link Crew and ISTEM will be dedicating time to help grade 9 students feel comfortable and get to know one another.

Bussing is available to those within the Burlington region. If outside of the catchment, transportation will need to be organized by the family. Some families have coordinated transportation via a facebook group. Additionally, transit is commonly used amongst our students as we are near the Aldershot GO Station and City of Burlington transit stops are in close proximity to the school.

The $800 program fee covers a wide range of prototyping materials, operational costs of professional grade equipment, experiential learning opportunities like field trips and guest speakers, and software access. This fee needs to be paid by September 30th and can be paid in installments on School Cash Online.

Aldershot's I-STEM program provides Adobe Creative Cloud and AutoDesk accounts to all students for the entirety of the four year program. This professional level software is introduced in Grade 9 and then is leveraged throughout the program. We have devices in the school that runs this software but for it to run on a personal device, it must be a computer than runs software and not apps (Chromebooks). Here are the recommended specs:

View the  program brochure for an outline of the I-STEM program. Grade 9 students work to develop their “Engineer’s Toolkit”. The framework for this toolkit in Grade 9 is the  Year 1 I-STEM Roadmap​. View the  Year 2 “Entrepreneur's Toolkit” Roadmap  and  Year 3 & 4 “Global Innovator’s Toolkit” Roadmap.