On January 25, Washington Middle School was announced as winner of the Future of Educational Technology Conference STEM School of Excellence Award, sponsored by State Farm. More than 11,000 educators from all over the world gathered in Orlando for the five-day event.
Jody Vines (principal), Marsha Snell (Technology Instructional Facilitator), Chelsey Turner (Library Media Specialist), Catherine Kozubski (6th grade science teacher), Karla Long, and Hanna Young (literacy teachers) accepted the award on behalf of the staff.
“We feel very honored to receive this award. We were up for the award against hundreds of schools across the country. This is a tremendous honor. We hope to continue to provide our students with the best STEM opportunities possible, ” said Jody Vines, Principal.
During the event, WMS staff was asked to give a presentation for other school leaders. During the presentation, Washington staff described the school’s programs involving STEM. These include the use of computers in every classroom across the curriculum, a library makerspace, a maker lab elective, cinematography classes, robotics, computer coding, and more. The presentation included descriptions of the general science program ,which allows every student to build a computer and code drones prior to leaving sixth grade. The presentation also included a description of the schools “Big Event STEAM Days,” which bring in dozens of mentors from across south Arkansas several times each year.
FETC’s impact has been felt by thousands of districts, schools, educators — and ultimately students around the world. Washington Middle School is honored to be recognized as the 2018 STEM School of Excellence by this organization.