I spent nine years during my time as both a principal and an assistant principal developing and nurturing the growth of my school’s STEAM program. I led curriculum development efforts and the design of innovative learning spaces to implement creative, state-of-the-art course offerings. As we implemented new curricular programs and opened new learning hubs, staff were provided an overview of new innovation spaces, multiuse labs, and interdisciplinary learning spaces at the onset of each new school year. The new learning centers included an ICL Makers Lab, Dance Studio, Robotics Research Lab, STEM Lecture and multipurpose classroom, Multimedia Arts and Ceramics Lab, and an Art Gallery.

These new spaces were not created as the result of district mandate nor were they spearheaded by outside groups. The learning centers were the result of several years of planning and funded by administrative budgeting and fundraising. I was fortunate to be surrounded by a team of fellow administrators and educators for seeing this vision through, which began several years earlier.

New 21st Century Laboratory Research and Learning Centers