Patriots STEM Elementary

Patriots STEM Elementary has many partnerships with other schools, our community, universities, and businesses. Many of our business partnerships are involved in our STEMersion program. This teacher PD program gives our STEM teachers face-to-face time with businesses and community members involved in STEM professions. We have worked with over 17 businesses to create these experiences for teachers. This includes Hendrick Motorsports, EPRI, Metrolina Greenhouse, and many more. Several of these companies have also provided materials, student field trips and guest speakers in our classrooms. These companies also have representatives on our STEM Advisory Committee and help us make decisions about the direction of our program. 

 

Our proximity to UNC Charlotte leads to many opportunities for our teachers and students to partner with UNC Charlotte professors, staff and students. UNCC provided our science fair judges through their STEM program. They have also hosted our annual Innovative Teaching Showcase, by providing a professional environment, PBL feedback, and guest speakers for our teachers to show off the work we are doing here in Cabarrus County. UNCC reps have a large part in our STEM Advisory Council and planning of large STEM Events for students. In return, we present at their annual STEM conference, as well as, host student teachers and clinical work needed for STEM education. Many of the engineering clubs at UNC Charlotte have also volunteered with our school during large scale events such as STEM Celebration Night. The Society of Women Engineers and The National Society of Black Engineers were both organizations from UNC Charlotte that have recently led activities for students and families at STEM events for Cabarrus County. 

 

Another beneficial partnership is Discovery Place's Education Studios. Discovery Place is the children's science museum in Charlotte. They have created a teacher centered professional development building that we have been lucky to partner with in order to gain new perspectives on PBL instruction, as well as share what is going on in Cabarrus County. Our STEM coaches are working with them to create personalized professional development sessions for Cabarrus County that they are then using for other teacher groups. We also host our annual Innovative Teaching Showcase at their studio to show off the work we have done together this year. This is a K-12 pipeline event for our STEM teachers in Cabarrus County.

 

Hosting large-scale events for families of our STEM community requires lots of help. We are fortunate to have some specific business partnerships that sponsor and help with many of our activities. Embassy Suites partners with us annually to provide students with a fun paper airplane contest. On the anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight, STEM students from across the county compete in our annual paper airplane contest. The top 15 students from each school are invited on a special field trip to Embassy Suites, where their staff provides guest speakers and volunteers so students can fly their creations from the14th floor to determine which plane stays in the air for the greatest amount of time. They also provide shirts, awards, and lunch for all of the students. The Cabarrus County 4H program sponsors our activities for National Youth Science Day. They provide all of the materials for our students to be engaged in science for the day as well as publicity for our program. We also had materials sent to us through the NC Science Festival in order to involve families in a Math and Science Night at Patriots. Without the support of these businesses and organizations, none of these things would be possible. 

 

Our final partnership that needs to be highlighted is our county STEM pipeline. We are part of a four school STEM pipeline in Cabarrus County that encourages retention in the STEM program from kindergarten through 12th grade. We have a sister elementary school in Coltrane-Webb STEM Elementary. We filter from both of our schools to JN Fries Magnet Middle, and then to Central Cabarrus High School. These four schools each have STEM coaches that meet at least monthly to discuss ideas and activities for the pipeline in an effort to encourage retention and strategies to collaborate with all of our STEM students.