STEAM Academy

Hawks Nest STEAM Academy is a North Carolina Model STEM School of Distinction and is home to Gaston County’s only STEAM Academy magnet school for elementary students. Hawks Nest STEAM Academy provides a layered approach to the Core Curriculum incorporating the five strands of STEAM. The Academy will use Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.

Students must be in good standing, including appropriate attendance, behavior, and academics. Parent/legal guardian must be residents of Gaston County.

Students who will be in Kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year may apply. A lottery process will be used to determine the 60 kindergarten students who will attend. A lottery process will also be used to fill vacant seats in first grade through fifth grade.

Parent/legal guardian must maintain residency in Gaston County. Students must be in good standing, including appropriate attendance, behavior, and academics.

Hawks Nest STEAM Academy provides students with in-depth experiences in science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. These experiences will help students learn to feel comfortable with problem solving and to connect classroom learning with real world experiences. Hawks Nest STEAM Academy fosters a flexible learning environment that emphasizes personalized learning through
academic learning plans, with a concentration on small group instruction and application of learning. Instruction will include inquiry-based, project-based, and problem-based learning approaches. Through these structured approaches to problem solving, learning becomes more engaging and meaningful and all students can be fully engaged with the content and participate completely in the learning process.

After completing fifth grade at Hawks Nest STEAM Academy, students matriculate to the STEAM Academy at Stanley Middle School. Completion of the STEAM Academy at Stanley Middle School will allow students to pursue either the Health Sciences Academy at East Gaston High School or the Technology and Industrial Engineering Academy at Bessemer City High School.

Hawks Nest STEAM Academy offers a variety of STEAM activities. Students will have access to supplies, tools and technology that support the approach to inquiry-based, project-based, and problem-based learning. In addition to STEAM and integrated STEAM activities in the classroom, students will have opportunities for involvement with (but not limited to) individual and group projects,
robotics (sphero, ozobots, dot and dash), science fair, clubs / advisory (cubelets, legos, drones, vex kits), math / science olympiad, and a formal Arts production that incorporates music, dance, and script.

Students must be willing to commit to the Hawks Nest STEAM Academy objectives and extra curricular activities as well as all other school expectations.

Instruction begins at 8:30 a.m. each day. Dismissal begins each day at 3:30 p.m.

Students can be dropped off each morning starting at 8:00 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. in the car line. Students can be picked up each afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m. in the car line. Students must be picked up by 4:00 p.m.