Spring Lake school honored for Project Lead the Way participation
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Ken Downey, Correspondent
Led in by a bagpiper, students from St. Catharine School, Spring Lake, walked single file into the school auditorium. All dressed in green, the students prepared for their St. Patrick’s Day-themed prayer service.
Along with the prayer, which was enhanced with singing and a performance of “Stone Soup,” the students were happy to learn from principal Robert Dougherty that their school was presented with a special honor.
St. Catharine School has been participating in the “Project Lead the Way” program, which is a non-profit organization that provides new and innovative learning experience for children in grades kindergarten through 12. Each year, Project Lead the Way recognizes 10 schools in each state for their work through the program. There are currently over 13,000 Project Lead the Way programs offered in more than 10,000 schools throughout the country. St. Catharine School is one of only 10 schools, and the sole Catholic school, in the state of New Jersey to receive the award.
“Recently, Project Lead the Way has assessed programs across the country,” Dougherty stated. “Only a handful of schools have been awarded and recognized as distinguished schools. Now, only 10 schools in the state of New Jersey have been granted this award, and only one of them being a Catholic school. I am proud to share that St. Catharine School has been recognized as a distinguished Project Lead the Way school.”
Michael Perez, who is in his first-year teaching at St. Catharine School, saw an opportunity to implement the chance for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program at St. Catharine School.
“At my previous school, I was in technology,” said Perez. “When I came over here, I interviewed for the technology program, but I saw the opportunity for STEM. I just have a good background in [science], technology, engineering and math. So, I decided to switch over to the STEM program because my master’s degree is in it and it happened to work out and just mesh together.”
Five days after Perez was hired at St. Catharine School they shipped him out to Michigan to give him specialized training for the Lead the Way program. Now, less than a year later, Perez is overjoyed to bring such an achievement to his place of work.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “The percentage of winning something like this is like hitting the lottery. It is just an honor for me to help out and make St. Catharine a top school.”
But as much of an honor it was for Perez to bring to the school, it was an even greater experience to work with the students.
“It’s from the heart,” he said. “It is unbelievable, it’s all I want to do. I just want to help them grow and understand that there is more out there than what they are learning about in the classroom. There is engineering for kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade, and sometimes [the kids] grab onto something and they just flourish.”
Of his Project Lead The Way experience, fourth grader Shea Shaughnessy noted how much fun he and his classmates are having while building a lot of robots.
“I feel really great of all that we have accomplished,” he said.
Eighth grader Olivia Conffey added, “I really feel great about working in the STEM program. It is a great way to prepare for high school and to be involved with it. We do a ton of building robots and a ton of coding.”
“I think this accomplishment is a great way to build off of the STEM program and expand it a bit more because it is such a great experience,” she said.
Principal Dougherty said that in “receiving this distinction validates the quality and accessibility of our STEM program at St. Catharine School.
“This is just our second year having the ‘Project Lead the Way’ program in place: however, we spent a great deal of time emphasizing professional development during the implementation process in order to be able to properly support and offer this unique program to all of our students. We are proud to be one of only 10 schools within New Jersey to receive this distinction from such a large, national program which is currently being utilized in over 10,000 schools,” he said.
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By Ken Downey, Correspondent
Led in by a bagpiper, students from St. Catharine School, Spring Lake, walked single file into the school auditorium. All dressed in green, the students prepared for their St. Patrick’s Day-themed prayer service.
Along with the prayer, which was enhanced with singing and a performance of “Stone Soup,” the students were happy to learn from principal Robert Dougherty that their school was presented with a special honor.
St. Catharine School has been participating in the “Project Lead the Way” program, which is a non-profit organization that provides new and innovative learning experience for children in grades kindergarten through 12. Each year, Project Lead the Way recognizes 10 schools in each state for their work through the program. There are currently over 13,000 Project Lead the Way programs offered in more than 10,000 schools throughout the country. St. Catharine School is one of only 10 schools, and the sole Catholic school, in the state of New Jersey to receive the award.
“Recently, Project Lead the Way has assessed programs across the country,” Dougherty stated. “Only a handful of schools have been awarded and recognized as distinguished schools. Now, only 10 schools in the state of New Jersey have been granted this award, and only one of them being a Catholic school. I am proud to share that St. Catharine School has been recognized as a distinguished Project Lead the Way school.”
Michael Perez, who is in his first-year teaching at St. Catharine School, saw an opportunity to implement the chance for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program at St. Catharine School.
“At my previous school, I was in technology,” said Perez. “When I came over here, I interviewed for the technology program, but I saw the opportunity for STEM. I just have a good background in [science], technology, engineering and math. So, I decided to switch over to the STEM program because my master’s degree is in it and it happened to work out and just mesh together.”
Five days after Perez was hired at St. Catharine School they shipped him out to Michigan to give him specialized training for the Lead the Way program. Now, less than a year later, Perez is overjoyed to bring such an achievement to his place of work.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “The percentage of winning something like this is like hitting the lottery. It is just an honor for me to help out and make St. Catharine a top school.”
But as much of an honor it was for Perez to bring to the school, it was an even greater experience to work with the students.
“It’s from the heart,” he said. “It is unbelievable, it’s all I want to do. I just want to help them grow and understand that there is more out there than what they are learning about in the classroom. There is engineering for kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade, and sometimes [the kids] grab onto something and they just flourish.”
Of his Project Lead The Way experience, fourth grader Shea Shaughnessy noted how much fun he and his classmates are having while building a lot of robots.
“I feel really great of all that we have accomplished,” he said.
Eighth grader Olivia Conffey added, “I really feel great about working in the STEM program. It is a great way to prepare for high school and to be involved with it. We do a ton of building robots and a ton of coding.”
“I think this accomplishment is a great way to build off of the STEM program and expand it a bit more because it is such a great experience,” she said.
Principal Dougherty said that in “receiving this distinction validates the quality and accessibility of our STEM program at St. Catharine School.
“This is just our second year having the ‘Project Lead the Way’ program in place: however, we spent a great deal of time emphasizing professional development during the implementation process in order to be able to properly support and offer this unique program to all of our students. We are proud to be one of only 10 schools within New Jersey to receive this distinction from such a large, national program which is currently being utilized in over 10,000 schools,” he said.
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