MESA, AZ — It's back to class on Thursday for over 50,000 students in Mesa Public Schools, the largest district in Arizona, and some students will be starting the year off in a newly re-designed school.
Red Mountain Elementary is now named "K-8 STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch." The school is welcoming 7th and 8th graders for the first time. All grade levels have science, technology, engineering and math integrated into the curriculum.
Principal Jaclyn Bycott showed ABC15 around the school, which has new signs, classrooms, and a new vision statement. Bycott says she worked hard to bring that vision to life.
"(It was) a combination of our community asking for it and us saying, 'why not,'" she said.
While you may think of laptops and textbooks to learn a subject, the school is designed with a "think space" full of tables and shelves used for building and collaborating. Bycott says students will have the chance to work beside real people in the industry like aerospace engineers and pilots. Even those as young as kindergarten will have STEM weaved into what they learn in the classroom.
"As long as a 5-year-old or a 10-year-old can tell us the process they went through, that is what we're focused on here," Bycott said.
Bycott is a mom herself and says this new way of teaching and learning is just one way to better prepare all children for high school and beyond.
"From a mom's perspective, it's really powerful to see my girls want to code and I think it's very powerful for them to understand that they can do anything they want to do," she said.
