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amalgamation of subject-areas. Unfortunately, if there were ever an opportunity for fear to rear its antagonizing
head, it’s amidst this kind of change. But we had a purpose…
The city of Mount Pleasant, TN and its schools were ripe for this new approach to education. Located on the
proverbial outskirts, Mount Pleasant is the epitome of a city that has suffered under hard-times. While Mount
Pleasant thrived for over 100 years during the Phosphate era, known as a rich mining town and a welcoming
gateway to a nearby Nashville, by the early 1990s the city’s Phosphate was gone. As Phosphate went so did
the city’s prospects, industry and jobs. A once flush city now suffered under a 25% unemployment rate and
a growing methamphetamine crisis. The death of another American small town seemed inevitable. It was at
this point the city’s leaders turned to education as a catalyst. Could the city’s schools leverage the power of a
unique, forward-thinking education model believed to both inspire teachers and students as well as connect
local industry to once stale curriculums?
In 2016 that’s exactly what we did. Charged with resurrecting Mount Pleasant, TN by way of an inspired, PK-
12 unified STEAM model, educators began rebuilding the idea of school and, ultimately, its impact on the
surrounding community. This rebuilding would center on embedding Arts into a STEM curriculum, creating
holistic learning model where students think and do as creators not merely consumers of information. This
combination of purpose, progressive curriculum and inspired pedagogy was the tremor of what would soon
become the groundbreaking education
paradigm – a unified STEAM campus.
#TheMount
So what does this STEAM campus really
look like? What was so innovative that
caused America Achieves and the Global
Learning Network to invite Mount Pleasant and 29 other schools worldwide to convene in Boston, sharing
World Leading education practices? What was so inspiring that the CLARK Legacy Foundation contributed
a $500,000 innovation grant to support our efforts? I like to use the Music of Mechatronics example. Picture a
high school freshman that loves playing in the band. This kid carries his horn around like a badge of honor. Now
this freshman loves music but when he sees Mechatronics on his schedule, initially his heart sinks. Not hard to
understand, as most musicians would shy away from the program’s Wikipedia description “a multidisciplinary
field of science combining a varied array of engineering fields…” However, the Mechatronics instructor,
operating under our vision of connecting students to their passions, sees an incredible opportunity to teach
this freshman about a different kind of melody. The sweet humming of a 3D printer. Before long, the freshmen
is 3D printing functioning, multicolored mouthpieces that leave his band mates both curious and impressed.
This freshmen now loves band AND mechatronics. That’s the power of STEAM!
There are countless examples like this but the results are the same. We’re taking a page out of the Mars
generation’s playbook, combined with a bit of practical psychology, and helping students embrace their
passions while simultaneously opening their minds to the reality of real world synergy. It’s education a la carte.
We’ve recognized that under the one-size-fits-all, factory-line education model we’ve done more damage than
good, so we’re leveraging the power of relationship-building and personal interests to foster both a new way
of thinking and learning. It’s metacognition for the mobile-generation! And what’s cooler than 3D printed
French horns is that we’re starting this process as early as three years old. Basically, we’re public school acting
like the coolest start-up company since Snapchat. Only this isn’t Silicon Valley, we’re re-directing the course of
education from the cozy confines of Mount Pleasant, TN.
I use the start-up comparison because our teachers vertically plan – like 2nd graders working with 11th graders
on the same Tiny House project – and our emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning transcends both grade-
level and content-area. This allows for an overarching vision free from the compartmentalization of students
by arbitrary birthdates. Furthermore, we don’t see education as a standalone product anymore. Our fingers are
on the pulse of both the current and future economy and its respective workforce demand. That’s why we are