From STEM to STEAM

               Downingtown STEM           to                  STEAM

Before places like Downingtown STEM Academy had their feet firmly planted in the ground and had become the well-oiled machine that their creators imagined, along comes STEAM to blows its roof off—literally and figuratively.  The STEM Academy will be adding on a separate wing for the arts.   While STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Math, the new concept is STEAM which adds an A(art) to STEM to become Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math.  The reasoning behind this new and improved concept is that there is Art in every Science and Science in every Art.

The old Downingtown High School has become the new Downingtown STEM Academy.  It has been tricked out in  state-of-the art technology and has become a magnet for the entire Downingtown district because they hold a lottery for all  students across the district who qualify to get in.  Of course lottery or not there’d have to be slots saved for the extraordinaries like the  Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerbergs, and Stephen Hawkings («who just turned age 70, mindbending!).  But this isn’t entirely new.  The old Downingtown H.S. and my old high school Scott in Coatesville, were all tricked out in the best of the time and also had a slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am arts/cutlure department.  Scott had one whole wing that was just for shop and drafting.  Another wing for gym and a beautiful acoustically sharp auditorium.  And the college prep students had the run of the entire place, so we had access to the best arts and technology.

You go Stephen!

Speaking art and technology,  Mr. Hawking has done more with his mind than most of us put together with our whole bodies by overcoming a crippling disease that usually kills early.

Speaking of art and technology in the movies, we saw the social network recently.  Even though Mark Zuckerberg plays a very edgy and seemingly unkind person, he managed with his single-minded programming and hacking genuis  to be one step ahead of everyone else,  like Jobs and Gates, et al. before them.  They know the value of hiring and utilizing great minds and creative juices.  Art Works. 

(Thanks for reading, I was just letting off a big STEAM)