Linda Chavez, Board President; Hilaria Bauer, Superintendent; Tracy Leathers, Principal; Alfredo Acosta, Vice Principal; Acala STEAM Academy Staff
Once a traditional middle school, Ocala STEAM Academy opened in the Fall of August 2015 as a design thinking campus. The school is built on the foundation that ALL students can be powerful learners when provided with the appropriate access points and opportunities. Ocala is committed to leveraging its diverse community for the purpose of helping all students be change agents in their community and GEARed UP for their future. The district’s core values of developing globally aware, empowered, academically courageous, reflective, upstanding problem-solvers frame its work. Utilizing Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards and the design-thinking process along with International Society for Technology in Education and computer science standards, students engage in project-based learning units that incorporate interdisciplinary content with STEAM in order to find solutions to real-world problems. Through design challenges and the infusion of technology, students have embraced the FAIL-forward mindset and are creators of content and the drivers of their educational pathway.