Home Education and Careers New program at Ss. Peter and Paul allows students to be leaders

New program at Ss. Peter and Paul allows students to be leaders

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Ss. Peter and Paul

EASTON, Md. – Students at Ss. Peter and Paul Elementary School will have the opportunity to “lead the way” this year thanks to a new program being introduced. Project Lead the Way will give students the chance to engage in hands-on activities, projects and problems reflective of real-world scenarios.
Ss. Peter and Paul joins more than 10,000 schools across the country offering PLTW, according to principal Faye Schilling. She added that research shows students who participate in the program outperform their peers in school, are better prepared for post-secondary studies, and are more likely to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, healthcare and research.
“PLTW has a long history of successfully engaging students in relevant and innovative ways,” Schilling said. “We are excited to offer PLTW programs to our students, giving them the tools to solve problems and acquire 21st century skills for success.”
Project Lead the Way is a nonprofit organization that provides participating schools with benefits including scholarships, preferred admission at colleges and universities, internships, industry connections, and ways to highlight individual school’s achievements. Schilling said introducing PLTW was a logical step to take to help provide students at Ss. Peter and Paul with a world-class education.
“This global and diversified STEM experience will empower our students to become the next generation of scientists, leaders and innovators who are capable of and confident in applying and executing creativity and logic as a means to promote change and solve problems in the world,” she said.
At Ss. Peter and Paul, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will become problem-solvers, Schilling explained. They will engage in critical and creative thinking, build teamwork skills, and develop a passion for and confidence in STEM subjects.
Kindergarteners will work on structure and function, while first grade takes on animated storytelling. In second grade, the focus will be on grids and games, using computer programming. The third grade will use video gaming to learn programming patterns. Input and output of the human brain is the topic for the fourth grade, and the fifth-graders will work on robotics and animation.
In the middle school, the focus is on testing the students’ limits and allowing them to question what’s possible, Schilling said. The sixth through eighth grades will tackle a project involving design and modeling.