Posted August 6, 2015/Meria/APS, M. Agnes Jones Elementary

M. Agnes Jones Elementary is Serious about S.T.E.M.

I was looking forward to my trip to visit principal Woolfolk and her students and staff at M. Agnes Jones Elementary School today. I had heard about their new Innovation Station inspired by Georgia Tech, which included robotics, tinkering and 3D printers.

The Washington High School cluster of schools, of which Jones is a part, has chosen a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) theme for all of the schools that feed into Washington High.

Poised to implement STEM in 2015-2016, Ms. Woolfolk and the principals of the Washington Cluster attended Georgia Tech Innovation Studio with the Westside Parent Group in June of 2015. Ms. Woolfolk was thoroughly inspired by the possibilities for M. Agnes Jones. Using flexible spending dollars allocated during the most recent APS budgeting season, she launched a science lab, tinkering lab, and purchased a true robot, Ramsey.

She has also garnered support of Georgia State University and was recently awarded a $10,000 Innovation Planning Grant by the Georgia Office Student Achievement.

The trip was everything I hoped for, (actually I would have been happy seeing this level of learning on day 22 of school as opposed to day 2)! I watched students demonstrate their knowledge in the area of robotics and engineering, all in the first 15 minutes I was in the building. It was incredible! If they are working at this level on day two – the rest of the school year is filled with so much hope and promise.