STEAM at DLSNC
In order to ensure that our students are prepared for success in college and in their future, we believe they should become STEAM-literate members of society. By offering a varied and rigorous hands-on STEAM curriculum, college-credit options, professional lab spaces, extracurricular opportunities, access to a modern Maker Space and Art room, mentorship, and encouragement, we hope to inspire and instill confidence in our students to pursue STEAM-related careers.
STEAM Pathways
STEAM Pathways
DLSNC’s STEAM Pathways program offers students the opportunity to focus their studies in the areas of Engineering or Health Sciences, and those who complete the rigorous program receive a special certificate and an honor cord at graduation. The Pathways program aims to help students gain more knowledge and practical skills in these two fields, in which many of them aspire to pursue careers.
A Pathways certificate and honor cord represent many hours of work in advanced-level and honors courses, outside extracurricular activities (a few recent examples are the Robotics Team, OHSU Dental Exploration Program, the ACE Mentor Program, and a week of shadowing various medical professionals at Kaiser Permanente), organizing community projects, and lots of field trips. In addition, Pathways students get priority placement in an engineering or healthcare Corporate Work Study job, and chart their progress with a faculty mentor several times each year.
There are now 43 Knight alums with this special distinction, including five powerhouse students who earned both Pathway certificates. Alums have shared that having the Pathways certification on their college applications and resumes has been truly impactful.
For more detailed information on the STEAM Pathways program, please email Amy Lacks, Director of STEAM, at alacks@dlsnc.org.
STEAM Night
STEAM Night
Each spring, DLSNC’s faculty organizes a public event to highlight the STEAM learning happening here. The event includes interactive stations, a student art show and sale, free food, and prizes. In the past, STEAM Night attendees have had the opportunity to operate a robot, watch the creation of liquid nitrogen ice cream, dissect cows’ hearts, make bath bombs, plant pots, print buttons, create clay tiles, along with laser-engraving keychains, building microbots, and challenging themselves with math puzzles.
STEAM Night gives students the opportunity to be the teachers to their families, DLSNC staff, and other community members. It is always a fun opportunity for students, staff, alumni, families, and recently accepted Knights to connect and celebrate the amazing student work that happens at DLSNC.
Maker Space
Maker Space
DLSNC’s Maker Space serves students as a hands-on classroom as well as for after-school use. Its goal is to provide a resourced, staffed location for collaborative innovation, creation, and physical construction, whether the end result be a complex robot, an artistic vision come to life, or the solution to a simple mechanical problem.
Equipped to promote interdisciplinary learning, the Maker Space is outfitted with two 3D printers, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter, a color printer, power tools, and a myriad of hand tools and materials to promote invention and imagination. During the school day, the space houses two levels of Engineering classes, which focus on developing technical and coding skills, using the Engineering Design process, inquiry-based challenges, problem-solving, human-centered design, and "breakthrough thinking." After-school usage has included Robotics team projects, special workshops, and open time for creation.
