Executive Summary

Edgewood Middle School embraces our district’s mission - to inspire and equip all students to continuously acquire and apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others. At Edgewood these are not simply words on a paper, but words that drive all we do for our students. Edgewood is focused on the students first and foremost. Our team of educators, students, parents, business partners, community members, and district personnel work collaboratively to create a safe and engaging learning environment for each Edgewood student.

Warsaw Community Schools (WCS) embraces STEM education and continues to support and expand our STEM certified schools. Washington STEM Academy was first certified in 2015 and recertified in 2020. Since then, Jefferson Elementary, Claypool Elementary, and Madison Elementary have all become STEM certified schools. In an effort to build vertical alignment and provide ongoing opportunities for STEM education, the corporation and WCS board have requested Edgewood seek STEM accreditation. We included a key representative from the high school to participate in our PBL training this past school year, in an effort to make sure we offer STEM K - 12.

As part of WCS, Edgewood has a population that reflects our district’s diversity. The district encompasses an area of 25 miles by 35 miles. A portion of Edgewood STEM students reside in some of our area’s most affluent homes while others reside in our local homeless shelter. The free and reduced rate averages 40%. Despite this socio-economic disparity, student academic expectations and performance remains consistent throughout the building. Our students and their families are all Edgewood Middle School Tigers.

Edgewood embraces our community’s rich distinctions as both the Orthopedic Capital of the World and the City of Lakes. Edgewood has built dynamic STEM curricula focused on these distinctions. Students can be found manufacturing a variety of products for the corporation; modifying vehicles for physically challenged children; using 3D printers to create sensory objects that are housed in each fire truck, ambulance, and police car in Warsaw to help calm children involved in an accident, fire, or medical emergency; competing in robotics tournaments; designing classrooms to maximize student learning; using the scientific process to solve a variety of driving questions; and engaging in other opportunities to inquire, engage, collaborate, and present to authentic audiences.

The vision of each stakeholder is to fulfill the mission for each Edgewood child. This is the catalyst for designing and implementing STEM curriculum that will prepare our students for the 21st century. Warsaw is a community with global orthopedic manufacturing leaders, the largest soybean biodiesel plant in the country, the leaders in poultry production, and a thriving agricultural industry. Through collaboration with our industry partners, WCS and Edgewood are aware of the need to educate students with not only academic skills, but also employability skills. Edgewood has been intentional in the creation and implementation of collaborative, inquiry-based, problem-solving curriculum in a positive learning environment.

This curriculum was designed with the input of community and business stakeholders. The collaboration with our community and business partners continues to be strong and growing. Edgewood hosts a STEM Advisory Board that meets once a quarter to share student learning and gather input to help us better prepare and equip our students to be productive members of our community now and in the future.

Parents, community, and business partners are a common fixture of the daily school day – so common that some students do not recognize that these people are actually ‘guests’. Edgewood has a Parents as Partners in Education (PPE) that works in partnership with our school. It is rare to have an active parent organization at the secondary level, but Edgewood has been very fortunate to have an active PPE for over 30 years.

A sample of our Edgewood's community partners include but are not limited to: ZimmerBiomet, Medtronic, DePuy Synthes, Grace College Warsaw Education Foundation, Kosciusko Community Foundation, Dekko Foundation, Orthoworx, Society of Women Engineers, Dalton Corp., Paragon Medical and the Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services.

It is the norm for Edgewood STEM students to share their time, talents, and treasures to authentic audiences, many of whom are the community and business partners mentioned above. On May 9, 2022, Edgewood teachers who had been trained in PBL and who created PBL cross-curricular units presented their projects to the Edgewood staff, central office administration, community members and representatives from our STEM Advisory Board.

Edgewood students practice student stewardship throughout the year. Students have participated in many successful food drives, coat drives, read-a-thons, raising money for non-profit organizations, organizing activities to raise money for scholarship programs, providing community service by raking leaves for our neighbors, and serving as ambassadors for incoming students. Students of all socio-economic levels serve as student stewards and embrace the "enriching the lives of others" part of our mission.

The opportunities for Edgewood students and their families extend well past the traditional school day. In addition to the traditional sports opportunities, students can be found singing in choir, playing in the band and orchestra, learning and competing (quite successfully) in chess club and robotic tournaments, competing in the National History Day competition (with many earning the opportunity to compete at the state and national level), presenting PBL experiences, and enjoying a variety of after school clubs and activities. The monthly school calendars are filled with opportunities for students and their families to be involved and included.

EMS STEM Focus

The two cornerstones that define our STEM focus at Edgewood Middle School are Engineering and Philanthropy. Our engineering focus is embedded across the curriculum through Project-Based Learning, Inquiry-Based Instruction, solving real world problems and giving students the opportunities through hands-on cross-curricular activities to deepen their knowledge and apply higher level thinking skills.

Our PBL units are Gold Standard and include challenging problems, sustained inquiry, authenticity, student voice and choice, reflection critique and revision and public product. We’ve also embedded the state defined employability skills for middle school students in our PBL units. The state academic standards are part of the PBL units, with a specific focus on the power standards as defined by the state and corporation.

Philanthropy is our second cornerstone, making Edgewood a unique school with a strong academic focus to Maximize Student Learning but also recognizing and living the corporation mission to apply knowledge and skills while pursuing their dreams and enriching the lives of others. We truly embrace enriching the lives of others through our many philanthropic activities we are involved in throughout the school year.

Edgewood Middle School is known for our community outreach programs, our efforts to help with state, national, and international needs, and for taking care of our own students and staff who are in need. Specifically, we feed several families during school breaks and we also collect enough food and staples to take care of our community for the winter. This is just an example of our focus on philanthropy that is a cornerstone for who we are.