KNIGHTS
STEM Academy

Knights STEM Academy

KH STEM Academy in Action!

The Knights STEM Academy is an innovative and student-centered learning experience that offers our students a partnership between curriculum standards and real-life, hands-on projects that will help prepare them for college or career.

The Knights STEM Academy’s project-based learning approach provides real-world experiences built on the crucial link between academic achievement and future success. Content and projects focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Facts about the Knights STEM Academy at Kenowa Hills

1. The Knights STEM Academy is a point of pride for our community and an exemplar model for STEM education across the state of Michigan and the nation.
2. Classes are taught in two-hour blocks with core curriculum teachers and STEM teachers that work together to integrate core content and learning with student-designed projects.
3. The STEM Academy learning space and workshop is currently housed at Kenowa Hills Middle School. This space has been transformed into a learning environment to support the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
4. With the support of the KHPS community, a bond was passed in 2020 to build a STEM Education addition to Kenowa Hills High School that will house the STEM Academy and other specialized STEM learning experiences for KHPS students. This addition is currently in the design phase and is scheduled to be ready for students in January of 2023.

As an example, the partnership between construction projects and geometry helps students to learn, master, and retain important geometry standards, while being engaged in a real-life experience. In the same way, the content of earth science and physics can be learned in an engaging way by using projects dealing with renewable energies and unmanned aerial vehicle technologies.

Preparing Students for Ongoing Success

As we continue to innovate our educational process, KHPS works closely with officials in the higher education setting, industry professionals, and employers in order to better prepare students for life after graduation. Consistently we hear that colleges, universities, and employers want students who possess the “soft skills” needed for success. These include leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, technical skills, flexibility/adaptability, and organizational and project management ability. The Knights STEM Academy also focuses on developing these important skills and more.