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to build on courses such as mathemati- cal modeling, that the school already has been offering — if not under the currently fashionable STEM label — in the name of training well-rounded criti- cal thinkers who can go on to succeed in STEM professions. "We've been emphasizing these things for a long time," said Ashok Pillai, head of computer science and STEM coordinator at Middlesex. "Our goal is to diversify and increase our offerings so that down the line, every single one of our students will have one of these larger problem-solving experiences before they graduate." At St. Mark's School in Southborough, STEM is among the major initiatives — along with global citizenship and a new center for innovative teaching and learning — in a strategic plan adopted to guide the school through the rest of this decade. "STEM is part of the national conver- sation around education," said Michael Wirtz, assistant head of school and dean of faculty at St. Mark's, a teacher of advanced-placement chemistry, who himself formerly worked as a chemist. "Multiple (U.S.) presidents have called for increasing the number of people we train, not only to teach STEM subjects, but to be ready to go on and pursue STEM at higher levels of educa- tion," he said. "[STEM] is a place where we feel like we can make an impact on the greater world. "Not only that, but from an educa- tional point of view, STEM offers this unique opportunity to have students be part of creating, building, getting their hands dirty, as a part of their education," getting them ready for professional careers, Wirtz said. Over lunch in the St. Mark's cafeteria one recent afternoon, several students described projects they're doing as part of the school's STEM Fellows pro- gram. To tie in with the theme of global citizenship — another major initiative in the school's strategic plan — all of the STEM Fellows' projects have a con- nection to Haiti, where St. Mark's has a partner school, St. Marguerite's, located a steep, three-hour hike up the side of a mountain. Thus, Hakyong Jeon, a senior from South Korea, described her work against HIV that involves two days a week of stem-cell research at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Tori Shakespeare, a junior from South- borough, is conducting research into music's effect on cognitive development, which she hopes will help make the case for launching a music program for the children at St. Marguerite's. Meanwhile, Varun Shankar, a senior from Southborough, is designing a prototype solar-powered water-transport system to push fresh drinking water up the mountain to the school. And Finnegan Schick, a senior from South- borough, described his project, to better grow a type of grass called vetiver, which has long roots and can play a role in stop- ping erosion. He and two other students plan to travel to St. Marguerite's later in the month. Global solutions Kimberley Berndt, chair of science at St. Mark's, said STEM is key to solving global challenges, such as those present- ed in Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries. It's important that talented students in the STEM disciplines not be so focused on the science that they forget that "science solves problems, engineer- ing solves problems," she said. The robotics team is taking part in an international contest in which competi- tors are challenged to build a robot to shoot an exercise ball through a target from 10 or 20 feet away. A computer science student, Laura Sanchez, a senior from Boston, said she had been discouraged by science until given the chance to try her hand at new media that tapped into her love for art. "I am not a math and science girl," she declared. But the school "gave me an opportunity to look at it another way," she said. At the Groton School next year, math and science classes will integrate more technology across the board. All students will be taught coding at a basic level, and more computer programming courses will be offered at the advanced level, said Gail Friedman, the school's communica- tions director. Groton offers two integrated STEM courses, in addition to a course that combines introductory physics and honors pre-calculus and a course called Calculus in Motion, which applies calculus to physics. The school has been placing greater focus on STEM subjects over the past three years, Friedman said. "We recognize the critical importance of the STEM disciplines and how they can provide our students with problem- solving tools," she said. A new building addition focused on STEM disciplines is part of the multi- million-dollar renovation of the 19th- century Schoolhouse on campus. The project will add flexible classroom space, a spacious interior forum for academic and social gatherings, and state-of-the- art labs, including a fabrications — or "fab" — lab where students can use materials to solve problems in a hands- on fashion, Friedman said. Is it possible the students whose inter- est in technology is sparked at Groton today will invent the new Facebooks and Microsofts of tomorrow? "We hope so, and we think so," Fried- man said. "We've already got graduates who are innovating with technology, such as Julia Silverman (Class of 2006), who helped invent the Soccket, an ener- gy-producing soccer ball that is bringing electricity to remote communities, and Alex Klein (Class of 2008), a co-founder of Kano, which produces an inexpensive, build-it-yourself computer. "Or we could go way back to Charles Lawrance, who graduated in 1901, and developed an engine that influenced the course of aviation history. Our students are motivated, talented, and curious. We can't even imagine the innovations they might create." n MetroWest495 Biz | February 2014 17 905 Hartford Turnpike, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 tel. 508.842.1213 • www.elevationee.com CUSTOM RENTAL GLOBAL GRAPHICS EVENTS PORTABLES A symbol of a school's STEM importance: a rendering of a new STEM building at The Groton School. At right, St. Mark's student david Eacho, Class of 2014, works on a computer.

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