Bishop Noll to offer intro STEM program for 8th graders

Moira Deel, Staff Reporter

Starting next fall 2017, Bishop Noll will be offering an introductory STEM program and Algebra 1 to 8th graders in local Catholic grade schools. Bishop Noll principal Mrs. Lorenza Pastrick has chosen 30 8th graders from the following schools: St. Mary’s Griffith, Our Lady of Grace, St. Stan’s, St. Casimir, St. John Bosco and St. John the Baptist.

“STEM is a great process for building problem solvers!” says, Mrs. Lorenza Pastrick, “If I can start them at a younger age, I should!  In addition high school students are able to take college credits so why can’t 8th graders take high school credits?  It acts as a DC of sorts for 8th graders.”

This allows students to complete two high school requirements early so they can add in different high school classes to their upcoming schedules. Also this will allow more students to consider attending Bishop Noll and receive more college credits.

Mrs. Pastrick who is in charge of this new program says, “My idea, as a elementary principal I realized the difficulty in challenging our elite students and I thought this was a great way to facilitate a partnership with our feeder schools.”