Beginning April 9, the K-5 STEM program, emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics will be led by Dr. Shannon McKinney at the Boren School on Delridge Way s.w.

She met with parents, and teachers at Madison Middle School on March 13 to talk to them about the program, answer questions and to get to know people.

Dr. McKinney currently lives in Tucson, Arizona and has more than 22 years of educational experience including classroom teaching, and served as a both an Assistant Principal and Principal in Tucson.

She plans on moving to Seattle in two weeks and brought her mother, Melinda along for the trip. The two have been actively house hunting.

She spoke about why she is so committed to the STEM concept and helping students. "In today's society we need to be able to produce students who are 21st century competent. They need to be creative. They need to be able to collaborate, communicate and have critical thinking skills and with the flattening of the world due to technology everybody is so quickly connected to each other that we need to help them become more than knowledge owners, we need to help students become productive in society."

She spoke before the crowd explaining that she is an avid cyclist, and loves the outdoors. "I've lived in Arizona my whole life but when I've had the opportunity to go on vacation I choose Colorado, Oregon, Washington, the places that are vastly different than where I am. I am at a point in my life where I want to experience something like this full time and to have this opportunity is perfect because the experience that I've had educationally has greatly prepared me for what I want to do for you and your children here in this area."

She explained that her educational philosophy has evolved and changed over time. "On my iPhone I have a little saying that says 'Life is change, growth is optional. Choose wisely' and I believe that in order for us to become who we are meant to be, the person we are born to be, to contribute the way we ought to, we have to be receptive and accepting of change. Part of the reason why STEM has come about is because of the drastic change in the environment and in the world. If you went to school when I did, think of how drastically different it is. It's not going to suffice our kids to continue to pour knowledge into their heads. That's not going to work anymore."

She explained that a STEM school like Boren needs to be "Student driven". By that she offered, "A facilitator of learning means it's not teacher driven. Questions need to arise that become the focus of what the classroom teacher is trying to teach the students. Yes we have the common core that are curriculum standards that we know that we are measured by however we need to be creative and embed exploratory ways so that kids can see the integration between those common core standards. That's where I think the STEM curriculum is going to be the most important."

To learn more about the STEM program see our March 2 story or visit http://bitly/K%STEM