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New STEAM Education Labs in Southern California Catholic School

Written by Bill Laurienti

Director of Technology, Beth Thomas, described a SmartLab HQ as “Learning playgrounds for the students.”

St. Junipero Serra Catholic School in Rancho Margarita, California held a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new SmartLab STEAM centers at the beginning of the month. The newly built Student Creation and Leadership Center at Junipero Serra features a STEAM lab for elementary students and a STEAM lab for middle school students.

The event was attended by more than 600 faculty, parents, students, and community members. Our CEO, Matt Dickstein, spoke at the event and said to the students in attendance:

“The question for you is not ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’, it’s who do you want to be? What problems do you want to solve and how will you plan to solve them?'”

Problem-based learning is a critical element in the STEAM lab experience, and when students learn how to learn in the SmartLab they can succeed in an uncertain future.

Learn more about the ribbon cutting ceremony and how they’re implementing STEAM at Junipero Serra here.

Bill.Laurienti
Bill Laurienti

Bill Laurienti is a Content Marketing Specialist at Creative Learning Systems. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education (English) from Colorado Mesa University and a Master of Arts in Secondary Teaching from the University of California's Rossier School of Education. Bill came to CLS after 10 years in the secondary classroom. He believes SmartLabs are important tools for engaging unengaged students and helping them access careers they might not otherwise have imagined.

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