Standard 1.10. Community, post-secondary, and business/industry partners and/or families actively support and are engaged with teachers and students in the STEM program.

As Helen Keller wisely said, “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much…” Fulton Science Academy Private School has taken this perspective to heart in developing our culture and programs.  

Our families actively support FSAPS programs in many ways, but most notably they serve as academic team coaches. Approximately, fifty percent of academic team coaches are parents. The amount of time, energy, and passion that they demonstrate is unparalleled. They bring their various degrees, work experience, and commitment to furthering our students’ education to their coaching roles and it shows in the incredible success and growth of our academic teams. Their participation as coaches also serves to provide our students with a highly visible example of volunteerism and giving back to the community. Additionally, as a result of parents serving in the role of academic team coaches, we have naturally provided students additional opportunities to form mentorship relationships with knowledgeable professionals from a variety fields. Last year, our school represented Georgia in seven national or international competitions, which include Robotics, Science Olympiad, Destination Imagination, Math Counts, Chess, National History Bowl, and Model United Nations. Quite simply, Fulton Science Academy students would not be as successful without our parents.

As the majority of our students are under 13 years of age, we have elected to leverage our post-secondary and business/industry partnerships through their engagement in school projects and activities. We have several Georgia Tech undergraduate students working with students on our FSAPS Robotics and Future City academic Teams. Another is community members teaching clubs and coaching academic teams. An example of this is Ms. Butler, who is a retired teacher, coaching Science Olympiad students and was instrumental in the school being designated as a Certified Schoolyard Habitat Site when she led the Nature, Environment, and Conservation Club. Also, the Novak Foundation donated $10,000 to assist the Environmental Club and school’s character education program. 

Fulton Science Academy alumni are another relationship that we leverage for support of our programs and students. In addition to having alumni days, we maintain a Facebook account for our alumni that keeps our former students engaged and connected. Currently, our former students help us host regional competitive events for both robotics and mathematics, as well as, help prepare our teams. Also, we have two former students that have returned to FSAPS as faculty members to teach mathematics and science at our school and still others return to serve as inspirational speakers for our students.

Lastly, we have worked with the City of Alpharetta Environmental Coordinator and the Fulton County Public Works Department to provide additional STEM demonstrations, activities, and programs for our students and the outside community. For example, the Fulton County Water Tower Project that was coordinated by our school and was open to all students in Fulton County. Other examples include, our robotics teams partnering with the Alpharetta Recycling Department on projects and our students working with the City of Roswell Rivers Alive initiative to enhance environmental science awareness.

Parents, community members, alumni, and our city and county actively partner to support STEM education and the advancement of students at Fulton Science Academy Private School.

 

Evidences: