ESSA Learning Labs

HEY! DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWERS?

1. Are we doing enough to enable optimum learning abilities in our children?
2. Is the current school set-up the best possible option to facilitate the learning process?
3. Do we have state of the art facilities, methods and infrastructure to cultivate a progressive and competitive learning environment?    

WE DO! 

MEET ELITE SCHOLARS STEAM ACADEMY! 

At Elite Scholar’s STEAM Academy we champion innovative learning approaches, we shape our learners into developed individuals capable of self-reflection, and we challenge them via new experiences.

We are a successful school located in the Saint Louis Metro East Area.  We focus on the key subjects of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics to ensure that our learners are well rounded in both personal and educational spheres.

We want to expand by providing our students with the best tools possible to supplement their learning needs. We are looking to develop a fully functional recording studio and newsroom as well as other STEAM Learning Labs that will allow our students a more hands-on (industry specific) experience.

At Elite Scholars STEAM Academy we seek to instill in our learners the desire to take positive risks and work as a team. This is an ethos that we ourselves agree with and this funding campaign reflects that. Let’s work together and build something tangible that will benefit the students at our school and allow them a strong foundation to build their own lives.

What We Need 

We believe the school children of today will have jobs that we cannot even imagine in the future. We need to prepare them for the 21st century with an education that works to understand the complex world in which we live. This education should give them the tools to understand and interpret the interrelated nature of our work.

In order to achieve our goal we need your support. Here’s a breakdown of our funding needs, what it will be spent on, and how it will be applied:

BUDGET

Elite Scholars STEAM Academy Learning Labs

Total:                                                                                              $1,578,800  $1,578,800
Timeline for Implementation

If we don’t reach our entire goal we will use what is raised to fund Elite’s Learning Labs as best we can and/or purchase a more complex hands-on STE(A)M curriculum to continue challenging our students to:

1. Creatively use science, arts, mathematics, and technology concepts and principles and applying them to the engineering design process.
2. Recognizing the needs of the world and creatively design, test, redesign, and then implement solutions (engineering process). 
3. The ability to apply rational and logical thought processes of science, mathematics, arts, and engineering design to innovation and invention.
4. Understanding and explaining the nature of technology, develop the skills needed and apply technology appropriately. 
5. Understanding and explaining financial literacy through the management of funds, stock market, and investments. 
6. Understanding and explaining the fine arts through music, theatre, dance and martial arts

Our school’s curriculum will always be at the forefront in preparing for change within our world and educational system. Elite Scholars STEAM Academy will proactively plan and make changes in our curriculum and instruction to enhance and compete in an ever-changing world.

The students of Elite Scholars STEAM Academy will be active participants in their learning. It is our charge to actively engage each student in the development of his or her learning through hands-on experiential learning processes that focus on individual strengths.

The Impact

By contributing to our project you ensure that our students receive even better educational tools and you provide them with better prospects as they move towards their adult lives. We want to run a school that is consistently adapting to the needs of our fast-moving contemporary world.

From our students perspective, the recording studio and learning labs will give them an opportunity to explore their creativity in a new setting but it will also grant them scope to further develop their team building skills too. We want to challenge our students and we believe that this is an effective way to allow them to build their self-esteem, take positive risks, and explore another avenue of commonality with potential for innovation and self-discovery.

Education doesn’t have to be intangible. Instead, we can teach our youth through experience and hands-on exploration, which the learning labs provide. We can use our labs to record music, podcasts, radio shows, and a list that only ends at our pupils’ imaginations.

The learning labs can also be applied in a more practical sense to benefit our students’ engineering lessons. This, in turn, allows us to grow as a school and expand our mission statement too.

Help us provide a form of autonomy for our young learners and share with us in the excitement of creating something new.

Possible Risks & Challenges

Building something is always a challenge and this is no exception. We need to find the right equipment, we have to train staff members, and we have to be aware of the potential pitfalls in implementing our plan.

But we are a school driven by innovation, helmed by the mission to challenge our students, and we strive to take positive risks. This is an apt description of this funding campaign as well. Yes, there are challenges but we feel equipped to deal with them and we always reflect on what works, and what doesn’t.

In order to overcome our potential pitfalls, we will switch gears readily when we find that our current methods are not completely effective.

Our school has a small student population, a committed staff and a loyal parent base that will allow for necessary changes to take place. A framework for thinking skills will help students make sense of this ever-changing world.

By building a learner-centered, hands-on environment at a school with rigorous academics, high standards at its core, and with participation from parents and teachers, we can ensure that the needs of the students truly come first.

Other Ways You Can Help

We know that money is only one aspect when it comes to implementing goals. If you would rather help out in other ways and you’re in the area then please let us know. We are confident that there will be something tangible that you can do to help us create our recording studio.

We also appreciate any social sharing too. If what you’ve read inspires you but you are unable to contribute then please post a link to this campaign on whatever social network you enjoy using.

We know that teamwork and collaboration are effective building stones (it’s what we teach our pupils) so let’s work together and create something new, tangible, and beneficial together.

Thanks for reading and check us out at www.ess.academy, Facebook, and Twitter!

We at Elite Scholars STEAM Academy would like to thank you for your support