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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > September > 25 > Entry
Kevin Riley: All eyes on STEM school
To see a photographs from the grand opening, click here.
Last week when the Dayton Regional STEM School held its grand opening, you had to be impressed.
A long list of regional and state leaders stepped up to the microphone to celebrate getting the one-of-a-kind school in this region off the ground.
Among the speakers: Wright State University President David Hopkins, Dayton Development Coalition President Jim Leftwich and Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut. Former Congressman Dave Hobson, one of the major forces behind establishing the school, was in the crowd, too.
But the really impressive people that night were the students and staff, including two students who served as emcees and greeted the crowd in Chinese, the language that the school’s students are learning.
Other students served as tour guides, proudly showing off their new school. The students started classes Aug. 17.
One student, 14-year-old Sierra Davis, of Trotwood, explained the school this way: “It’s like a normal school, but you learn differently.”
Sierra’s explanation points out why the Dayton Regional STEM School represents an important and closely watched experiment in education for our region and state. The school emphasizes the STEM areas — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and gives its students real world experiences and problem-solving skills.
The idea is that these are the kinds of skills that students will need to succeed in the work world of the 21st century. These students also are the kinds of employees and young talent that Ohio and the Dayton region need to develop as we transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based, high-tech economy.
So educators, local governments, Wright State and other colleges, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and area high-tech companies got together to organize and fund it. The school is located along Interstate 675 near Wright State’s campus. It’s temporarily being housed in a Clark State University building.
Dayton’s STEM school is one of several in the state, but it’s the only one that is open to students from a region, rather than a specific school district.
Students from 30 school districts in Montgomery, Greene and Clark counties were eligible to apply to the school, which has 81 ninth-graders for this year. Eventually it will have grades six through 12 with an enrollment of 600.
The hope is that students like Sierra, whose father drives her to school each day, will come to school from throughout the area, providing the Dayton region with an asset that is strongly connected to local universities, Wright-Patt and local companies.
One of the teachers at the school believes those kinds of connections are important, based on her own experiences.
Linda Hallinan, of Oakwood, spent more than 20 years as a mechanical engineer, including working for Delphi. About three years ago, she decided to change careers, and now she’s the STEM school’s science and engineering teacher.
She’s driven by a passion to connect students — especially young women — to the real world of science and engineering.
Hallinan, who said she spent much of her engineering career as the only woman in meetings, has several plaques in her classroom that acknowledge her patents. She considers them an important message to her students about what they can achieve.
In fact, part of her curriculum includes having students come up with their own ideas for patents.
“I hope that my patents will set an example, as my students will take time two Fridays a quarter to brainstorm ideas for patents,” she said. “I would like to help inspire this future generation.”
The state’s leadership is also hoping the school inspires changes to the educational system.
Chancellor Fingerhut made a point of being at the grand opening — even though his responsibility is for higher education, not K-12. He said he knows that projects like Dayton’s STEM school are critical to the higher education system and Ohio’s future.
“The entire state is behind you. We are watching,” he said. “We’re learning from you.”
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