Stepinac High School to Showcase Newly Expanded 5,000 Square-Foot STEAM Center Wing and 5 Additional 21st Century Classrooms at Fall Open Houses, October 18 and 22
Prospective parents and students will be among the first to tour Stepinac High School’s newly expanded 5,000 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) Center Wing and five additional 21st Century classrooms at the Fall Open Houses, October 18 and 22.
The renowned all-boys Catholic high school’s single largest expansion to
date of its advanced technology-rich, real-world learning environment, which was undertaken this summer, will be
showcased during the Open Houses. The first will be held at 5 PM,
Wednesday, October 18 and the second on Sunday, October 22 with presentations
at 12 noon and 1:30 pm. RSVP required at
www.Stepinac.org.
The new STEAM Center Wing is dedicated to the STEAM
real-world learning curriculum to meet the students’ increased interest in
taking their specialized academic studies to the next level. Stepinac’s outstanding STEAM Program was awarded the prestigious Executive Leadership
Award from Fordham University Graduate School of Education.
The expansion of the STEAM space included the conversion of
an unused locker area into break-out spaces for flexible and small-scale
instruction. In addition, 1,000 square feet of new space was created to house
a 3-D Printing Design Center; an Interactive
Anatomy Lab where health sciences students can explore the
complexities of the human body in meticulous detail and an additional Makerspace where
engineering and architecture students can turn their ideas into reality. All
the additions are fully integrated with state-of-the-art technology including
BenQ smart interactive displays.
The five additional cutting-edge learning spaces, named Active
Learning Centers, are modeled after Columbia University’s
non-traditional, 21st century classrooms.
Stepinac now boasts a total of 9 Active Learning Centers
comprising about 5,400 square feet of space that “create a singular, one-of-a-kind learning experience for
all students, unlike anything in the region,” said Paul Carty,
Principal. “The Centers help improve academic performance by heightening
interactivity between the student and instructor and between students
themselves when they collaborate in
their project-based learning curricula."
Stepinac introduced its first Active Learning
Center in 2019. The renowned all-boys Catholic high school
subsequently transformed three other traditional classrooms before embarking on
the recent improvements which got underway soon after the end of the 2022-2023
school year.
In 2021, Stepinac not only unveiled the STEAM space but
several other real-world learning technologies including the Leonardo Adult Patient Simulator, 3D Anatomage
Table and Finance Center, a 1,500 square-foot
space featuring LED ticker
displays in real time used daily by newsrooms, financial wealth management
firms and university business schools. In addition, the new finance lab allows
for the integration of the Bloomberg Terminal and Bloomberg Market Concepts
into the curriculum. Students will then graduate with a Bloomberg certificate.
Fr. Thomas Collins (Class
of ’79), President, said: “These latest major improvements, including the
transformation of existing classrooms and other spaces, dramatically underscore
Stepinac’s commitment to empower our students with the innovative technologies
and skills they need to succeed at college and in their future careers.”