Mount Alvernia Academy Honored by Newton Mayor

Mount Alvernia Academy (MAA) students and Science Teacher Mrs. Maria Lyon’s were invited to Newton City Hall on Friday, May 31st by Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller to be congratulated for winning Third Honors at this year’s Secretary’s Awards for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education at the Massachusetts State House. In May, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Ms. Kathleen Theoharides recognized MAA’s fourth and fifth-graders for their outstanding work on their STEM Fun Fair.

The STEM Fun Fair has won two national and state awards this year. MAA was selected as the Massachusetts Elementary School of the year for its outstanding energy education projects by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project for the STEM Fun Fair. Mrs. Lyons will take a group of eight students and their parents to Washington D.C. for the NEED Project Youth Education Conference and Awards later this month. Additionally, the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators (MassCUE), chose MAA to take part in the Education Evolution at the State House in early June because of their work on this project.

This was the first year MAA held the STEM Fun Fair, which provided a dynamic and cooperative learning experience for students. MAA fourth and fifth-graders explored the science behind a multitude of green energy solutions, including solar panels, wind turbines, and more. Students worked in small groups on their experiments and collaboratively presented their findings to MAA families, community members, and fellow students. They even helped MAA’s younger students with fun, hands-on science experiments based on their projects.

Many of the activities for this came courtesy of the NEED Project. Mrs. Lyons attended a NEED Class at the Museum of Science last fall, and the organization supplied kits for making the projects. MAA is so proud of Mrs. Lyons’s budding scientists for their hard work and dedication.