The STEM program at Northglenn High School is making a difference for their students by helping the community solve real-world problems. The high school, in the Adams 12 5-Star School district, started their STEM program in 2012 to change the way they were teaching in the classroom. Eric Hotz is the STEM coordinator for the school and said they thought it might be a way to increase the graduation rate. “(We) thought about things a little differently that’s (also) very hands on learning,” Hotz said. “At that time, we were at like 69 percent graduation rate and the last 3 to 4 years, we’ve been over 90 percent.” Hotz said the school was seeing a decline in enrollment and serving mostly students of color. The hope was that the STEM program would provide opportunities to think about college careers based on their three specialized pathways: biomedical science, computer information systems and engineering. “Our students maybe don’t have the family means to be able to do those sorts of things and the financial means,” Hotz said. “We’re over 80 percent minority students, we have a large number of first-generation students, and migrant students and we also have a large number of free and reduced lunch, but those things shouldn’t determine your success.” The school uses a problem-based learning approach and students get real world problems to solve from community partners like the Denver Zoo, the American Heart Association and Red Cross. Hotz said the goal is to provide students with 21st century skills. Read more: https://www.9news.com/article/news/education/northglenn-high-stem-program/73-55a665fe-6828-47bf-8ffb-6af2b9ca9f31