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 9th 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 …