Oak Tree Students Run "Junior Engineers" Each Week to Promote STEM Learning

Earlier this school year, Oak Tree students represented the largest single-district delegation of Chief Science Officers (CSOs) in the United States at a meeting for the Leadership Training Institute (LTI). These students gathered for one mission: to move beyond being just students of science and become advocates for it. After months of planning, collaborating with industry professionals, and setting goals, Oak Tree’s Chief Science Officers are seeing their visions come to life.

Oak Tree’s CSO team has turned its leaders into campus celebrities by fostering a deep connection with younger students through an after-school program. The CSOs help run Junior Engineers on Thursdays, where second and third-graders tackle weekly challenges like building catapults and basketball hoops to learn about motion and structural integrity. The CSOs even created rubrics to help younger students evaluate the success of their builds. “The program is so popular that students ask about it all day, and it has created a unique mentorship bond where the younger engineers look up to the sixth graders as role models,” said Mary Garnica, a second-grade teacher and CSO advisor. Garnica also highlighted the growth in the CSOs' maturity, noting that the younger students get incredibly excited to see their mentors on the morning announcements. “It is a rewarding process where the younger students can see where they started and what they can eventually achieve.”

To learn more about Junior Engineers and other clubs and activities at Oak Tree Elementary, schedule a tour at OakTree.GilbertSchools.net/Tour.