The STEMM Center offers three collocated activities in one centralized location:

The Okaloosa STEMM Academy was established in 2012 as a part of the Okaloosa STEMM Center. The Center provides a base of operations housing three co-located activities: the STEMM Academy, the Center for STEMM Innovation (CSI), and the Engineers for America Program (EFA).

The STEMM Academy is a public middle school for students interested in pursuing STEMM careers. The Academy's curriculum prepares students to pursue technical professions in engineering, mathematics, medicine, and research. The curriculum is aligned to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) Reading, Math, and Science initiatives. Academy mathematics courses include Pre-Algebra (7th Grade Advanced), Algebra I Honors (for High School credit), and Geometry (for High School credit). Students earn High School credit in Earth Space Science and Physical Science Honors at STEMM. Beginning in the 2017-18 school year students may also earn High School credit in .Net, a computer language/coding class offered to our 8th graders.

The STEMM Academy enrolls students for grades 6-8. Enrollment for 2016-17 is 206 students and is expected to grow. The student/teacher ratio is 18 to 1. Okaloosa STEMM Academy is not part of the Controlled Open Enrollment process. Qualifying students, those that are in the upper quintile of the 4th and 5th-grade standardized math and reading scores, receive an invitation to attend STEMM Academy. Students from Walton and Santa Rosa counties are welcome to apply. To apply, you must complete an application and provide an essay from both the student and the parent. Applications can be obtained by emailing the school principal.

The Center for STEMM Innovation (CSI) is a state-of-the-art teacher training center which offers teachers innovative instruction to assist in the promotion of STEMM growth in Okaloosa County and its schools. The center is equipped with progressive instructional technology with items such as hand-held data-loggers, TI-Nspire devices, and digital tablets. Grants and partnerships have made this one-of-a-kind center a reality.

This teacher training center provides a base of operations for our STEMM partnerships that go above and beyond anything currently available: teacher mentoring, idea incubator, partnership/grant development, and developing common vision targets and synergism.

CSI opens its doors to students by offering Summer STEMM camps, hosting STEM competitions and field trips, offering Science Fair workshops, and career connection opportunities.

The Engineers for America (EFA) STEMM Center will be a stand-alone facility that will allow this National and State Award winning STEMM Initiative to offer multiple EFA teacher training events, expanded experiments, more elementary student participation, and continued collaborations and partnerships with the civilian and military communities.

The Engineers for America Program is an educational program that provides teacher workshops and student field trips that place emphasis on hands-on activities that relate to aerospace engineering.

EFA teaches students how to conduct formal experiments called sorties. These sorties address the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) concepts that are aligned to the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) New Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS).

All sorties have been designed to help students master the grade-level benchmarks that will be assessed on the Florida State Assessments and to motivate more students into technical careers to meet the critical shortage of engineers, scientists, mathematicians the country faces in the future.

Each sortie, developed into five parts, includes a teacher outline of the lesson, a student lesson packet, data collection instruments as required by the activity, patterns and/or templates necessary, and a teacher post-visit observation/revision form. Students perform three or four experiments with every sortie.

A concurrent goal of the program is to conduct teacher workshops to provide teachers STEM strategies and materials for use in their daily classroom activities. Teachers attend workshops, learn pedagogy and methodology, data collection instruments and methods, STEMM strategies and curriculum materials for their daily classroom use.

The EFA program has been recognized by STEMflorida with the Improved Student Outcomes Award.

For more information about the STEMM Center or STEMM Center programs, please contact Scheree Martin STEMM Academy Principal, or call 850.833.4120.

Okaloosa STEMM Center
379 Edge Avenue
Valparaiso, FL 32580
(850) 833-4120
FAX (850) 833-4177