District Recognized by Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council
The Cedar Falls School District was recognized by the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council as a distinguished partner in advancing STEM education for youth, not only across the district but throughout the state as well.
A plaque of recognition was presented to district administrators by Jeff Weld, Ph.D., Executive Director of the STEM Council, for valued contributions to the statewide program, including:
Iowa's nationally-acclaimed Iowa STEM Teacher Externships program is co-managed by Cedar Falls High School science teachers Meghan Reynolds and Jason Lang; Iowa's innovative STEM Scale-Up Program awards STEM learning programs to schools and out-of-school settings throughout the state, one of which is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), managed by Cedar Falls High School's STEM Coordinator Kenton Swartley; the district has also been awarded 13 of those STEM programs from the STEM Council over the course of the last four years; representatives of the school district serve on the planning committee of the Cedar Valley Family STEM Festival; Cedar Falls High School teacher Dirk Homewood was the recipient of the 2016 I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award sponsored by Kemin Industries; two Cedar Falls elementary schools, Lincoln and Cedar Heights, participated in the STEM Council's Code Iowa effort; and, high school mathematics teacher Rich Strike served on the development committee of the "Mathematics Transition Guide" that aids thousands of college-bound Iowans to successfully bridge secondary to collegiate mathematics learning.
Mr. Kenton Swartley, STEM Coordinator for the Cedar Falls Community School District, accepted a plaque of recognition for District Excellence from Jeff Weld, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council. Accepting the honor alongside Mr. Swartley were Dan Conrad, Director of Secondary Programs (far left) and Cedar Falls Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Andy Pattee (far right).
