Covenant Rocket Team competed at the TARC National Finals in 2019.
21st Century Success
// HOW STEM STUDIES ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE Early Covenant leaders sat down to cast a vision for the little start-up school’s mission. As the statement took form, they landed on committing to being a leader in 21st century education. That was pre-2000, and now we find ourselves in the 21st century. How is Covenant living up to its mission of being on the cutting edge of education? Look no further than the CCHS STEM program. The acronym STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and has become the moniker for studies and jobs in those respective fields. As the 21st century brought with it the rise and prominence of the Internet, computer science, and adaptive engineering like 3D printers, the famous adage “students are studying for jobs that don’t exist yet” took root in educational institutions. CCHS veteran teacher Sean Bird saw the rise of technology in education and viewed it as an opportunity to give many Covenant students a leading edge in STEM fields. Bird says that the process of developing a CCHS STEM program has involved a lot of trial and error, student and community investment, and periodic surprise blessings for the programs. Initially, a lot of the work involved students tinkering with complex Rube Goldberg machines, which involves building multi-step, intricate contraptions to complete simple tasks. Bird reflects on those investments as a good start for students, but they weren’t the most practical experiments. The trajectory of the program changed in 2003, when Covenant students were invited by lateSenator Richard Lugar’s office to participate in the centennial celebration of the Wright Brothers’s first flight, and the state-sponsored nature of the competition was another step in opening Covenant to new opportunities for real-world experience in technology and engineering Students are education.
studying for jobs that don’t exist yet.
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Perhaps the most on-the-job experience that Covenant students have had through the STEM program is an opportunity to visit NASA’s Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers. Covenant received a grant to build a small rocket that would fly a mile high, and due to their work, a small handful of students and Mr. Bird got an all-expenses-paid trip to visit with NASA experts. Bird said that these early trips to NASA were illuminating in very special ways, and that Covenant’s eventual acquisition of its collection of 3D printers can be
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