Monday Morning
We had a nice turnout of 18 members and eight guests at Monday’s meeting back at the Retlaw Hotel. Joining us were our guest speaker, Steve Peterson along with three students of the FDL STEM Academy and four of their parents. Bonnie Baerwald announced that the Club Satellite meeting on July 3rd will be BackYard Bar & Grill at 12:15PM. Everyone’s welcome to attend. Charlene reminded everyone that our Annual Summer Picnic is this week Wednesday. Glen Treml had a “Happy Buck” for another grandchild on the way in November. John Cooper was the 50/50 Raffle drawing winner. John drew the Nine of Spades so he wasn’t a winner. The drawing on July 7th will have 19 cards with five pay cards and a pot of at least $456. In a second drawing Vickie Goldapske and Sharon Kollman each won a Walleye Weekend Miller Lite Polo. Congrats to all the winners.
Fond du Lac STEM Academy – Steve Peterson
Steve Peterson, CEO of Mid-States Aluminum, joined us on Monday as a representative of the Board of the FDL STEM Academy/Institute.
The Fond du Lac STEM Academy is the result of a partnership established between the Mercury Marine Corporation and the Fond du Lac School District. This partnership is far more than the traditional concept of a corporate partnership in which a the company provides resources for the school but has little actual involvement in the operations of the school. The mission for the Fond du Lac STEM Academy as stated in the charter grant application is: To develop innovative, passionate learners by providing a rigorous and challenging project-based curriculum grounded in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Our goal is to encourage ingenuity and creativity using real-world, hands on experiences. All students will develop strong team skills including collaboration, critical thinking, and flexibility, along with individual skills of self-reflection, persistence, pride, and resiliency. These skill sets will create future, highly employable citizens, armed with the 21st-century tools necessary for local, national, and global marketplaces.The STEM Academy is located at Franklin School and has a capacity of 100 students, with 80 students enrolled for the 2014-15 school starting in September. The STEM Academy includes grades 3, 4 and 5.
The STEM Institute started in 2013 and is also housed at Franklin School. The Institute has capacity for 150 students and has an enrollment of 100 students for the 2014-15 school year. The STEM Institute covers grades 6, 7 and 8. While there is nothing currently in place to continue this STEM concept at the High School level, the STEM advisory board is looking for ways to continue this learning philosophy at that level.
The three students that came along on Monday morning each gave a brief testimonial on why they like STEM and what some of their experiences have been.