STEM Education in Pima County Takes a Step Forward
September 22, 2021 For Immediate Release Matt Stamp, Communications Director 520-260-3305 (cell) matthew.stamp@pima.gov
Tucson, AZ - Northwest realtor Lisa Bayless from Long Realty has formed a partnership with The STEMAZing Project at the Pima County School Superintendent’s Office to bring the STEMAZing/SARSEF Elementary Edison Robotics Pilot to life in 4th and 5th-grade classrooms across three school districts (Amphitheater, Marana, TUSD). The pilot program will empower teachers with more than 500 Edison robots, classroom sets of robot books, and supporting supplies along with two full days of professional development. Participating teachers will be working together with Sherrie Dennis, SARSEF Manager of STEM Curriculum and Instruction, and DaNel Hogan, Director of The STEMAZing Project, to integrate robotics, computer programming, and engineering across subject areas from language arts to social studies, math, and everything in between.
The project also aims to connect classrooms with diverse student populations to share engineering design solutions using robots and prototyping solutions to problems they identify. With more than $25,000 invested in this project by Lisa Bayless Realtor as part of her Community First Program, the impact on the six elementary schools and 20 teachers that have chosen to participate will be significant.
Participating Schools, District (Teachers):
• Copper Creek Elementary, Amphitheater Public Schools (Susan Latin)
• Donaldson Elementary, Amphitheater Public Schools (John Caputo, Kristina Lee, Harriet Matiatos)
• Harelson Elementary, Amphitheater Public Schools (Susie Herman, Sarah Nystedt, Robyn Yewell)
• Innovation Academy, Amphitheater Public Schools (Patricia Patchin, Niki Tilicki, Sabina Vaswani)
• Dove Mountain CSTEM K8, Marana Unified School District (Kandi Baker, Sarah Casabona, Lauryn Lyons, Jody Mitchell, Andrea Sera, Shelby Wellman)
• Oyama Elementary, Tucson Unified (four teachers)
Lisa Bayless Realtor Community First Marketing Program
The Program was established 5 years ago to highlight Lisa Bayless’ business as a realtor by investing in the communities where she sells homes. Lisa’s goal is to make thoughtful, meaningful investments to enhance the people’s lives that live in those communities. In the past 5 years, Lisa has invested over $250,000 in those communities, investing in the safety, education, and entertainment.
The STEMAZing Project, an initiative at the Pima County School Superintendent’s Office, was established in 2013 to fill a need for improved STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in southern Arizona. The STEMAZing Project's mission is to positively impact the quality of STEM education for ALL students by empowering classroom educators to experience, share, improve, and implement STEM best practices. Learn more at: https://stemazing.org/.