Smart Starts: Northern Kentucky Schools Offer Top-Rated Programs
STEM- and STEAM-based curricula prepare students in the Northern Kentucky region for innovative careers.
Problem-solving, communication, leadership and teamwork are all skills top industries in Northern Kentucky seek out in a workforce to give their businesses a competitive edge. Thanks to STEM-based curricula in the region’s public and private schools, students graduate equipped with the skills companies need to succeed.
Full STEAM Ahead
The region offers a number of innovative education initiatives focused around STEM and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) learning, including the Ignite Institute, a STEAM-focused high school in Erlanger that opened in a former Toyota R&D facility.
The institute is tuition-free and focuses on project-based learning experiences to deliver skills in five fields of study — including computer science, biomedical sciences, design, education and engineering. In 2022, the school’s PiBotics B team was recognized as VRC High School World Champions at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas.
“Even though it’s an extracurricular activity, it’s very much in line with the curriculum here. The kids practice four or five hours a day for weeks. The kids are just great. They work really hard at this. They’re passionate about it because they love solving problems,” says Jerry Gels, Ignite Institute principal.
Gels says the robotics team is just another example of how the school helps develop those soft skills, such as collaboration, being accountable, showing up on time, being able to speak in front of an audience, which the region’s businesses need. In addition, the school works closely with about 90 businesses to give students hands-on experiences to paint an accurate picture of local careers.
“We try to expose students to six of the main industries that have workforce needs. One way we do that is through our academic colleges, but another way is through internships. We’ve been fortunate to be able to place a lot of kids in local businesses,” he says. “When our kids graduate, they’ll know how to do DNA research. They’ll know how to build a website. They’ll know about marketing and branding, and design. They’ll even have a general knowledge of cybersecurity.”
Character Counts
About eight miles down the road, the five robotics teams at Covington Catholic High School, a private, all-male school in Park Hills, are busy applying their problem-solving skills. All five teams qualified for the 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship, and the Housecats team was recognized as a VRC High School World Finalist.
“You can use all the descriptors — excitement, drive, desire, passion, teamwork, dedication — to describe what makes our teams successful, but I think what really stands out with our guys is their character,” says Bob Lind, director of STEM programs at Covington Catholic High School. “Everyone has a natural desire to win, but these guys have a lot of character, and it drives everything that they do. It helps them to want to be successful, but it also helps them to want to make other teams successful. They’re not just focused on their own teammates, but when we get to competitions, they’re trying to lift up other teams as well.”
Lind says teamwork is just one of the many employable skills students acquire through the school’s STEM-based curriculum.
“Our curriculum is centered on project- and problem-based learning. It’s about 20% lecture and 80% doing. These young men are put into groups constantly. They have to take on a very open-ended problem and then be able to implement the different techniques that they’ve learned to come up with a solution to that problem,” Lind says.
Lind says this approach will prepare students to enter the workforce and be successful — no matter their chosen profession.
“In our STEM program, we work with young men of varying academic abilities. For example, our engineering class is not limited to the kids who are going on to four-year college programs. They are open to students with all interests and abilities. Our job is to help them find the right pathway — whether it be college, vocational training, military and so forth,” Lind says.
Want to learn more about living and working in the Northern Kentucky region? Check out the latest edition of Livability Northern Kentucky.
