The Grassfield High School Governor’s STEM Academy
Project Title: The Grassfield High School Governor’s STEM Academy
Project Lead: Grassfield High School
Program Focus: The program at the Grassfield High School will focus on engineering and technology, global entrepreneurship and technology; and programming and software development.
Academy Website: Grassfield High School Governor’s STEM Academy
Application: Board of Education Approved Governor’s Academy Application (PDF)
Executive Summary
Partnership Members: Chesapeake City Public Schools; Old Dominion University; Tidewater Community College; Virginia Commonwealth University; Virginia Tech; Rochester Institute of Technology; City of Chesapeake Economic Development; Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation; NASA Langley Research Center; Phoenix Group; Clark Nexsen; Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast; Project Lead the Way; MITRE; VEX Robotics; Southeastern Virginia Food Bank; Lead4Change.org; Cdyne; US Coast Guard Exchange; Prime Software; and FBI.
Lead Entity: Grassfield High School
Fiscal Agent: Chesapeake City Public Schools
Contact Person:
Ms. Meredith Strahan
Governor’s STEM Academy Coordinator
Phone: 757 558-4493
E-mail: Meredith.Strahan@cpschools.com
Academy Location:
The Grassfield High School Governor’s STEM Academy
2007 Grizzly Way
Chesapeake, VA 23323
Number of Students Served: The Grassfield High School Governor’s STEM Academy will have the capacity to enroll 240 students, grades 9-12. During the initial school year (2012-2013) applications will be accepted for 60 students.
Career Pathways: Engineering & Technology, Marketing Management, and Programming and Software Development
Academy Goals and Description: The overall goals of the Governor’s STEM Academy are to provide students with STEM enriched 21st-century technological skill and knowledge necessary to succeed in postsecondary education and the work force.
Specific Governor’s STEM Academy objectives include:
- Improve academic achievement of Academy students
- Increase Standards of Learning (SOL) scores and pass advanced rates for all mathematics and science courses.
- Increase completion of dual enrollment courses.
- Increase the number of industry certifications awarded to high school students.
- Increase the number of students completing a college and career ready curriculum in high school.
- Provide work-based learning experiences through strong partnerships with business and industry.
- Increase high school graduation rates.
- Reduce dropout rates.
- Increase enrollment and retention in postsecondary education.
- Reduce the number of students requiring remediation in college.
- Increase the number of graduates employed in high-wage, high-skilled careers.
Highlights of the Academy: As a result of participating in the Governor’s STEM Academy in the clusters of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics; Information Technology; and Marketing students will:
- Gain a deeper understanding of the skills and knowledge incorporated in their fields of study;
- Benefit from specialized, project-based courses which develop critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, preparing them for the 21st-century world;
- Acquire greater communication skills;
- Develop workplace readiness skills;
- Receive opportunities to earn industry certifications preparing them to be more competitive in the work force and when applying to advanced training schools or postsecondary institutions;
- Obtain meaningful, real-life, hands-on experiences in their career pathway; and
- Profit from opportunities for internships, mentorships, job shadowing, and cooperative education, which provide students with advantages when entering postsecondary education and/or the workplace.