STEM at Ohana is not a club that meets after school. It runs through the curriculum from the K through 5 STEAM lab to the high school aerospace program, and the equipment is real: flight simulators, a robotics shop, rocketry, drones, and the design software professionals use.
Aerospace and aviation
In the aerospace program, students study the forces of flight, aircraft systems, weather, navigation, and flight planning, then put it to work on the flight simulators using real aviation procedures. Students can earn pilot ground-school credentials, design and launch rockets, and operate drones. Our aerospace, robotics, and rocketry teacher is a retired Air and Missile Defense colonel with more than 27 years of military and instructional experience, including six years supporting robotics and the NASA Space Program.
The simulator lab
Students plan and fly routes between real airports, account for the weather, and learn the systems that keep an aircraft in the air: electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, and propulsion from piston engines to rockets. Our partnership with Kaplan is expanding the program further, with opportunities in aeronautics and robotics and partnerships like Space Florida.
Robotics
Students design, build, program, and test their own robots, taking on engineering challenges and competing in robotics competitions. Along the way they learn the engineering design process, electrical circuits and motors, sensors and controllers, mechanical systems, 3D modeling in AutoCAD, 3D printing, and the testing and troubleshooting that turns a prototype into something that works.
STEAM from kindergarten up
Our K through 5 STEAM program is taught by a teacher with 35 years of experience across university, K to 12, and corporate settings, and art and STEM with coding runs through the middle years. Younger students build, code, and experiment long before they reach the aerospace lab, so by high school the tools feel familiar.
Certifications and what comes next
- Pilot ground-school credentials through the aerospace program.
- AutoCAD and 3D printing experience, with certifications that count toward careers in engineering, architecture, and the trades.
- Robotics competition experience, from design reviews to the competition floor.
- Dual enrollment and AP courses in math and science for students ready to go further.
- Internships with local businesses that let students test a STEM career before choosing a major.
How a project works
High school at Ohana
Robotics and other clubs