The STEAD School in Commerce City has its first senior class after three years [Video]

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — It’s not often students get to help build a new school, but that’s exactly what happened in Commerce City three years ago. The STEAD School opened in 2021 to its first 9^th grade class.

STEAD stands for science, technology, engineering, agriculture and design. The campus incorporates agriculture features like a greenhouse and farm. Students can choose a pathway in animal science, plant science, environmental science or food science.

But as principal Amie Weldy likes to say, it’s not a farm school. The goal is to prepare students for a variety of careers by teaching a variety of skills.

“We have the writing skills, we have communication skills. Each quarter, our students are answering a big question for a project that they then exhibit at a community night,” Weldy explained.

Several of the founding students are now the first seniors at STEAD, and said they were interested in the hands-on and project-based learning style. Ryder said it …