PINELLAS, Fla. — Stephanie Ferreira spent more than 20 years as a teacher in Pinellas County. A few years ago she decided to step away from that role to pursue her dream.
She wanted to bring field trips to students in the classroom.
“As a teacher I found that it was very difficult to schedule and plan field trips," said Ferreira. "The younger the students are it’s much more of a cat rodeo as I refer to it. You have to pay for transportation, you have to get a substitute."
What You Need To Know
- Stephanie Ferreira spent more than 20 years as a teacher in Pinellas County
- Ferreira at Mittye P. Locke Early Learning Academy
- Would you like to nominate an A+ Teacher? Click here
That’s how Mobile STEM Academy was created. Ferreira brings fun activities and experiences to students.
“We create the lesson plans and it’s the easiest thing for the teachers and the students all love what we do. And we’ve come up with the most fun, engaging, hands on STEM labs,” said Ferreira.
We spoke with Ferreira at Mittye P. Locke Early Learning Academy where she helped the students build roller coasters to learn about physics and energy.
“This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had teaching after doing it for so long,” said Ferreira. She went on to say, “We’re tying in the most fun elements for these kids to make them understand a little bit better, they’re going to utilize some of their prior knowledge and learn some new things at the same time.”She hopes to inspire them to want to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math.
“As long as they’re having fun, they’re going to enjoy it and they’ll realize that STEM really is something cool," she said. "And it’s the way of the future."
