Alliance Middle School

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MakerMinded is an online STEM competition that encourages students to think with and engage science, technology, engineering and math skills in a way that connects them to advanced manufacturing jobs that will need filled in years to come.  

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The online program helps to close the gap between jobs that will be available in advanced manufacturing and the thought process and skills students will need to fill those jobs after graduation. 

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When students complete educational activities online they can register, document and showcase those completed lessons and projects on social media. Schools receive points for completed projects and after May 11, 2018 the winning school in the state is announced. 

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Juliann Trevorrow, Project Lead the Way teacher at Alliance Middle School is leading the school in submissions to the Maker Minded program. 

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Trevorrow presented the program to Stark County instructional leadership and said she received great feedback. 

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“It was very well-received. The majority of the administrators present wanted to see it implemented in their own buildings and used in their schools,” she said. 

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Not only is AMS one of the first 80 schools to be a MakerMinded participant in the state, but right now AMS is in first place in the state for completed projects. 

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Trevorrow said she uses Maker Minded with students in the science and engineering club and also in her classroom. MakerMinded doesn’t add projects or change curriculum of the science program, but Trevorrow said it asks for more student reflection of their learning. 

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Middle School is an important time for students to be thinking about their future. It is estimated that over the next decade 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will be available in the U.S. and about 2 million of them will go unfilled. ACS wants to prepare students for life, college and career and preparing them for a potential advanced manufacturing job is a part of that. 

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MakerMinded is a way to help fill the STEM “skills gap” so that students are equipped for the many opportunities that are ahead of them. 

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ACS is proud of Miss Trevorrow and AMS students who are leading the state in STEM thinking! 

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Students worked on their test bed models so they could practice programming using Robotc, a robotics testing code.