Wheat Ridge students going full STEAM ahead

When Wheat Ridge High School launched its STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program last year, 16 students joined what would become an award-winning team by the school year’s end.

Year two, the program now includes more than 40 students, a new artistic component, and national recognition.

But instructor Chuck Sprague still sees all of this as the first steps in developing the school’s program.

“We’re teaching design for the computer, and how to assemble and manufacture what we’re creating,” he said. “We’ve always had a little architecture, but we’re seeing more interest, and now we’re offering a STEAM class, which seemed like a natural way to grow the school’s engineering program.”

The STEAM class (the “A” is for arts) is taught by Andy Yutzy, and marries the two seemingly disparate disciplines in a creative project for students.

“We’re making a sculpture inspired by (former football player) Freddie Steinmark, that is going to be around 10 feet tall and set up and Lutheran Hospital,” said junior Amy Leasure. “STEM work is a big part of where we are in the process, and it’s crucial we incorporate it properly as we work on our designs.”

The program’s architectural program, which is still growing, is receiving assistance from Denver’s Martin/Martin architecture firm this semester. Designers are giving students feedback and advice on their work in the classroom.

Sprague wants students to capitalize on their first-place-winning car design from last year’s Shell Eco-Marathon. So the class will now be working on two hydrogen fuel cell cars. One (like last year’s) will be in the prototype category, but the team is also designing a car for the urban concept category, which means it needs to be street ready, with everything from doors to windshield wipers.

One big leg-up for the students this year is the school received a large CNC four-axis milling machine, which will allow students to stay in house for nearly all of the cars’ mill work.

Students are ahead of last year in the design process, but there’s still a lot of work to do before they are ready to head back to Detroit for the Eco-Marathon in April. Part of that work is gathering community support, and that has become one of the biggest learning experiences for students.

They attend events with the car to raise awareness, and speak before groups like the Wheat Ridge Optimists club to raise the financial support needed. Sprague provides feedback after each performance, which incorporates public speaking lessons.

Outreach isn’t limited to adults either. On Oct. 21, sixth-grade students from Stober Elementary in Lakewood visited the school to get a tour of the STEM classes and program. STEM students Nicole Ortega and Elizabeth Pedlow explained the different offerings to the visitors, and showed just a few of the many opportunities STEM provides.

“Our sixth-graders were doing research on different STEM programs at different schools, and we thought it would be good to bring the students here to see it in person,” said Stober principal Josh Shapiro. “STEM is definitely something our students are interested in. In the world today, having science and technology experience is so important.”

Judging from the number of excited hands that shot into the air when Ortega asked the students who wanted to pursue STEM when they got into middle and high school, the message came through loud and clear.