North Elementary works closely with community partners from a variety of industry sectors to obtain feedback on our school’s STEM plan and to enhance STEM experiences for our students. Our community partners are actively engaged and are invited to visit our classrooms, present on careers, and provide enrichment opportunities for 100% of our students. Our STEM partners provide feedback biannually via surveys, email, and phone. This feedback is used to continuously evaluate, develop, and improve our STEM programs. Each year, our students have the opportunity to attend a community career fair. Community members present to students on each career and academic requirements to obtain certification. North Elementary continues to improve opportunities for students beyond the school day. We continue to partner with our community to offer opportunities to students.

Our community partners are essential to helping us inspire and inform our most at-risk and under-represented students about careers in STEM. To further support this, we intentionally selected a rigorous STEM curriculum for use in 100% of our classrooms. Career information and exploration is embedded in every unit from PLTW. Additionally, our classroom teachers actively look for opportunities to partner with the community to incorporate STEM career exploration. This leads to increased student engagement and authenticity. Increased exposure to these opportunities helps us work together with our community partners to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills, experience, and knowledge necessary to be successful in college and careers, which ties into our larger mission and vision for this initiative.