The trim new STREAM Lab that opened at the Academy of the Holy Angels in late 2017 is the latest physical manifestation of the Academy’s abiding commitment to the STREAM curriculum. Like STEM, STREAM highlights science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but also includes religion and art.
Students moved right into their freshly renovated space, demonstrating their readiness to make the best use of their new environment. Engineering, physics, and architecture classes now meet in the STREAM Lab, as do clubs that focus on engineering and robotics.
Formerly the Little Theater classroom, the completely repurposed STREAM Lab now includes a digital design area, a 3-D printer and 3-D scanner, and plenty of storage.
Teachers benefit from the whiteboards and a large, touch-screen television that allows them to write directly on the screen for emphasis and clarification.
Students are permitted to write on the glass partition that sections off a portion of the lab. AHA mathematics teacher Jing Loo pointed out that this allows students who are considering scientific questions and engineering designs to work collaboratively.
Loo, who is the moderator for AngelBots, the AHA Robotics Club, expressed her delight that the STREAM Lab offers the robotics students a generous amount of space to work together and test their designs.
“Before, we had a small space,” Loo said, adding that the girls now have ample room to run their robots. “This is a dedicated space just for science.”
Just a few weeks after classes and clubs began meeting in the STREAM Lab, Loo shared that the AngelBots have been working on their entry for this year’s FIRST® Tech Challenge.
AngelBots Captain Milena Correa explained that the 2018 competitors have been charged with creating robots that are capable of picking up foam blocks and organizing them in a pattern. Without giving away any of her team’s secrets, Correa reported that she and her peers designed, built, and programmed a robot with a “sliding contraption” that allows the AngelBots to complete the assigned task.
In competition, the AngelBots will pit their creation against those made by students from other schools, and will have the opportunity to earn college scholarships.
Loo said she is particularly pleased with Correa’s progress from last year, when she was a novice, to her new role as the team’s lead programmer.
The new STREAM Lab is just one more way AHA facilitates the success of students like Correa and her peers.
Founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1879, the Academy of the Holy Angels is the oldest private girls’ school in Bergen County. While AHA is steeped in Catholic tradition, this prestigious high school serves young women from a broad spectrum of cultural and religious backgrounds. Over time, thousands of women have passed through AHA’s portals. Many go on to study at some of the nation’s best universities, earning high-ranking positions in medicine, government, law, education, public service, business, arts, and athletics. The Academy’s current leaders continue to further the SSND mission to provide each student with the tools she needs to reach the fullness of her potential—spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically, by offering a first-rate education in a nurturing environment where equal importance is placed on academic excellence, character development, moral integrity, and service to others.
