Imagine a student asking to grow bacteria for a project during a worldwide pandemic. A sophisticated, university-level lab is required but not available. If you are a Beehive Academy of Science and Technology teacher, you convert a lab into the required BSL-1 (Biosafety Level 1). As teacher Kerrie Upenieks states, “Making the modifications was an easy decision to make. I always try to support my students and give them opportunities to reach their goals.” This dedication to STEM education and Beehive Academy’s state-of-the-art facilities allowed alumnus Aiden Pasinsky to dive deep into the world of marine biology and hone his problem-solving skills. Aiden is now a freshman at Duke University. His research experience at Beehive not only helped him get into Duke but also helped him secure a position on a marine conservation project and get work in a lab with bacteria growth models. As a double major in biomedical engineering and computer science, he still finds time to speak to several of his Beehive friends daily. Aiden began at Beehive in sixth grade after leaving his private school and looking at a variety of district and charter schools. Aiden remembers his father asking him, “Where do you think you’ll learn the most?” After choosing Beehive, Aiden participated in robotics during middle school. He credits Mr. Bryant with fostering his love of engineering in eighth grade. “He would modify lessons on what his students wanted to know,” Aiden recalls. A couple of years later, when watching a TED Talk by Penny Chisholm, MIT Oceanographer, Aiden became fascinated by the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus. This ocean-based 13
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