The STEAM acronym adds “arts,” to the traditional STEM topics of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The school uses a “neighborhood” system to teach its students, in which teachers are able to use a pre-manufactured adaptable wall system to set up customized classrooms, depending on the topic they want to teach. The classroom system, developed by Canada-based company DIRTT, is controlled by software, and are both soundproof and can be used as whiteboards.
Like the Dayton Regional Stem School or Global Impact STEM School in Springfield, CSA-Xenia is a tuition-free public school open to any student in the state. Many students enrolled in the school are from the Dayton area, but some enrolled students are traveling from as far as Hamilton to attend, administrators said.
While children are still assessed to the state standards, learning at the school is project based, and spans multiple grades.
“There’s a schedule that the parents have in terms of how the students move around the facility throughout the day, but there’s no bells that tell them they have to move at a particular time,” said CSA Xenia Board Chairman Bob Chasnov. “And so the flexibility is generated by what the teachers are developing for their projects, for their groups of students, and it’s not a single grade group, there’s going to be many integrated grades for these projects.”
CSA-Xenia moved its operations to the Lower Bellbrook Road location while renovations at the former YMCA building on Church Street in downtown Xenia are ongoing. That building will become both athletic facilities and classrooms for students in grades 6-9 once renovations are complete, and the Lower Bellbrook Road location will be opened to grades K-5.
“The goal is a finished renovation during next school year, and to then have students in two locations,” Ervin said.
Chasnov said that parents who have enrolled their children at the STEAM school are positive about the education they are providing for their children, and many have even volunteered to clean and prepare the facility for its inaugural year.
“In the United States, you get this general depression almost, for the state of our education, whereas what’s going on here is just the opposite, with excitement and enthusiasm for the people that want to serve the community,” he said.
Students may participate in athletics through their home school districts, but the school offers its own slate of extracurricular activities and clubs, like competitive dance, robotics, esports teams, and others.
CSA-Xenia is partnering with Kettering-based esports compound Vyral, to create the school’s esports program, complete with powerful PCs, built by students, that will be capable of supporting graphic design, 3D-modeling software, and animation.
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