THE STEM INITIATIVE

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of St. Thomas Aquinas High School is to stimulate curiosity and creativity in students through a challenging, STEM-integrated curriculum and to develop the higher level critical thinking skills essential for solving real world problems. This incorporates collaboration and communication both within the St. Thomas Aquinas community as well as with local STEM industries and universities.

For more information on STEM@STA watch the video below

 

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is leading the charge with STEM integration in the classroom. With touch screen technology in every classroom and Chrome Books for every student, lessons come to life through the integration of digital and in-person activities. Students have access to a 30 seat state-of-the-art computer lab equipped with industry-standard CAD, Coding and Design software. Film Production classes access an 11 seat editing suite geared to replicate a professional workspace. 

The aptly named STA Innovation Center takes STEM to the next level. This second floor facility offers a hub of opportunities for  design, development, construction and experimentation in all areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It provides teachers and students with state-of-the-art technology in the most ideal collaborative learning environments.

The Anatomage Table is touch-sensitive technology that projects full-length views of a human cadaver and its muscular, skeletal, nervous, digestive and pulmonary systems. The table assembles 2,000 3D images to show layers and slices of various tissues. Students can view cross-sections of muscles, organs and other structures.

The Anatomage software contains images of specific medical issues: a liver distended by cancer, an ACL knee injury, an ectopic pregnancy, a stab wound, and a stent placed in an artery to name a few. Students can also trace the flow of blood from the heart into the lungs. The table can even teach veterinary science, with images of animals including a dog, a cat, a parrot, a tortoise, even a squirrel-like Australian creature called a sugar glider.

We didn't stop there. The Virtual Reality Program immerses students in a three-dimensional world. “Experiences” include various activities such as dissecting a mushroom or a pig, measuring the Doppler effect of a moving train, following a bat through a cave using echolocation, assembling a circuit board, mixing volatile chemicals in a lab, and even stepping inside a beating human heart to examine the chambers.

 

CAMPUS WIDE STEM INITIATIVES

HYDROPONIC VERTICAL GARDEN

With an ever-increasing global population, hydroponic vertical farming projects may very well be the only way to adequately feed those living in overcrowded cities in the future.  Not only are hydroponic gardens very efficient by limiting nutrient and water waste, the system is also fully organic using no artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, nor fungicides.  In conventional large-scale farming operations, huge expanses of land are irrigated with water containing fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that often blow away in the wind. That runoff then enters into nearby ecosystems causing toxic contamination and destruction.

Growing food in your own backyard or in a local garden not only contributes to a lifetime of better personal health, but it is an easy way to reduce your global ecological footprint.  By growing and buying food locally we can reduce the carbon emissions caused by shipping outsourced food around the globe from where it was grown to our local supermarkets.

The overall themes of this project are sustainability, preservation and conservation of Earth's natural resources, reflecting the teachings from Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si which explains that “God has entrusted the world to us men and women and there is an urgent need for a radical change in the conduct of humanity.”

ROBOTICS AT STA

Boys’ and girls’ teams design, build, and drive robots in FIRST robotics competitions (FTC & FRC). Robotics is the ultimate program that incorporates all aspects of STEM. Students can participate in Robotics through courses offered twice weekly after school. For photos and event information, please visit our Instagram Page @sta_raider_robotics

CLICK HERE FOR RECENT COMPETITION RESULTS

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

Honors Independent Research is an enrichment honors course that offers students the ability to select and execute Scientific Research projects and compete in a variety of competitions.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPETITION UPDATES

  • This program has students compete at all levels of science fairs from regional to international in a wide variety of subjects ranging from biotechnology to earth science phenomena.
  • In the last six years, all competing students from this class have received special awards and placed at the county-level Science Fair. 
  • In eight years,  students have succeeded in multi-round competitions resulting in international-level competition such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
  • At the international level of competition our students compete against over 2000 students worldwide and have earned as high as fourth place.
  • Our students have received special recognition awards from prestigious organizations and universities such as Yale, Stanford University, NASA, the American Psychological Society, the Mu Alpha Theta Society, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the Air Force & Naval Academy, the Stockholm Water Prize for Environmental Sciences, US Agency for International Development and more

 

READ MORE STEM@STA NEWS

 

STEM CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

 

 PROUDLY COLLABORATING WITH

 

GO SOCIAL WITH STEM