Shoreland Lutheran High School Project Lead the Way marks 10 years
SOMERS — Shoreland Lutheran High School marked a major milestone in its school's history in late September, recognizing its 10 year anniversary of the Project Lead the Way STEM Academy.
Project Lead the Way, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a nationally recognized organization that provides rigorous, hands-on and project-based curriculum in biomedical science, computer science and engineering.
PLTW was chosen as the school was gearing up to expand its campus and facilities prior to the groundbreaking in 2014. In the fall of 2014, 24 students, from freshmen to seniors, were welcomed as the first official STEM Academy class at Shoreland.
"By the time we got to 2018, we had all three pathways with more than 100 students," said Shoreland President Paul Scriver. "And today we have 176 of our current student body enrolled in one of those three programs."
Scriver said school officials recognized a need for more STEM education in schools, as there were several STEM jobs available locally throughout Wisconsin.
"The pitch that we made said 'Let's try to be a part of solving the problem,'" he said. "And (we've) been highly successful in getting kids to graduate, finish their programs and be employed."
Scriver said part of what Shoreland is trying to do is "backfill open spaces in the community."
"We're hoping that local industry leaders are aware of the kind of graduates that are coming out of this program," he said. "The big transportable skills are really the keys, (such as) problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communication, so even if you're not going to be a rocket scientist, that's going to make you a better teacher or line worker."
Scriver said seeing the success of the program through successful students is "really gratifying, from a personal perspective."
"It's just a real blessing to be part of a school like this and the teams that God assembles to carry out plans like this, and then he just keeps putting people into place," he said. "(I'm) just super thankful to see how the plans that we had, God had in mind too and really blessed the program."
The growth of Shoreland's STEM academy is not slowing any time soon. As the school looks to the future, Scriver said there are plans to expand Shoreland, with more information to be revealed in November.
"We do have plans to expand, build another science lab (and) create some space for our robotics team and other programs as well," he said.
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