Beehive Academy Celebrates Utah School Choice Week
Feb 27, 2015 02:12PM ● By Julie Slama
Gov. Gary Herbert takes a moment to pose Jan. 30 during a School Choice Week event with Beehive Academy students Aryan Zodge and Lynae Herndon. Photo courtesy of Germaine Barnes
With the support of Gov. Gary Herbert, Beehive Science & Technology Academy celebrated Utah School Choice Week Jan. 25-31 as one the educational options for kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
“The week celebrated the right of the parents to choose the school or educational option that serves their children best,” said Beehive Discipline and Safety Coordinator Germaine Barnes, who helped coordinate events involving the school and activities during School Choice Week.
One of those activities included a Jan. 28 breakfast with Beehive students, families and faculty so community, business and government leaders could spend time and ask questions about the school.
Beehive Academy is an open enrollment, tuition-free public charter school that opened in 2005 with a focus on math, science and technology, as well as a solid foundation in humanities and social science.
At the breakfast, student posters and papers about the importance of school choice were displayed. Many addressed the students’ love of science, technology, engineering and math and how those needs were being met with small classroom sizes, Barnes said.
Twenty-two Beehive students also participated at a Jan. 30 School Choice display at the Capitol, where they demonstrated STEM activities, such as Lego robotics, static electricity and measuring the temperatures of liquids.
“Gov. Herbert spoke to us and said that he wants to see more funding for education, including STEM education,” Barnes said.
An estimated 100 charter schools throughout the state of Utah participated.
Sixty-seven School Choice Week events were held in Utah include open houses, information sessions and policy roundtable discussions, according to National School Choice Week. The events included activities from traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, online academies, private schools and homeschooling.
All events were part of National School Choice Week, which featured 11,082 events across America – the largest celebration of educational opportunity in U.S. history.
