We are full "STEAM" ahead at Emmanuel Lutheran School in Asheville. Building on the concept of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), STEAM reintroduces a focus on the arts, fostering a spirit of creativity and collaboration in our education system. It is a vital instrument in our school’s tool belt, helping us better serve our students and families with the highest quality academic experience.

Emmanuel Lutheran School is Western North Carolina’s first and only Christian Parochial Christian STEAM school that empowers students using technology along with the arts to build confidence and inspire students to do great things past their middle school experiences. In this article, we want to emphasize how this curriculum, combined with our mission and vision helps empower girls in technology careers.

Mrs. Tammy Reilly provides dedicated STEM and STEAM activities from our students in grades 1-8.

Some of the most recent activities include:

• Water Xylophones
• Catapult Challenge
• Spaghetti Towers (tension and compression)
• Turkey Trap

An educational movement combining science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, STEAM-based education helps foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration by applying all the disciplines together. At Emmanuel Lutheran School in Asheville, we are full "STEAM" ahead as Western North Carolina’s first and only Christian Parochial Christian STEAM institution. We are proud to lay an educational foundation that helps our students do great things beyond middle school.

In this article, we are discussing some of the ways STEAM helps improve test scores and provide educational advantages for students.

Emmanuel's seventh and eighth grade students were given the opportunity to dissect bovine eyeballs in science lab. Dr. Christina Munn from Skyland Animal Hospital shared her day and knowledge of animal anatomy.

Kindergarten has been busy using STEAM in everyday teaching.

In October the students read "Walter's Wonderful Web" and discussed how spiders build their webs strong by spinning and weaving a basket, criss-crossing shapes together to hold their prey. Students practiced engineering skills by using pipe cleaners, tape, and cups to build their own spider web.

The strings elective course being offered to all students in middle school grades at Emmanuel provides the tools a student needs to gain basic proficiency at playing a bowed stringed instrument (violin, viola, or cello), reading musical notation on a basic level, and interacting musically in a musical ensemble.

For sixty years, Emmanuel Lutheran School has been sharing the gospel of Jesus in the educational setting. To accomplish this, we have provided a Christ-centered academic experience for churched and un-churched children, maintaining a rigorous academic environment in every subject. As part of our mission to equip every child to succeed in their academic pursuits and become productive members of their churches and society, we are a proud STEAM school. 

Our First through Fourth grades have been busy learning in more natural and hands-on methods using engineering, science, and math!

Mrs. Noel's Kindergarten built STEAM Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees using their engineering skills to place as many letters as possible on top without tipping over.

In this activity, students are asked, "How can we build a tree that can hold different alphabet letters using these materials?" They are given time to experiment and play with the materials. They then discuss and collaborate together, on how to build a tree that can hold more than one letter.

Asheville’s Emmanuel Lutheran School is now a STEAM powered school. That’s science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. In fact, it’s Western North Carolina’s first and only Christian parochial STEAM school! STEAM education takes STEM learning and kicks it up a notch by applying creative thinking, imagination, and design skills – typically through project-based learning. As STEM education matures, and the prevalence of STEM professions continue to grow, there’s a clear need for students to utilize skills that are derived from artistic experiences – benefitting their educational pursuits and future professional endeavors.