Innovation Center: Preparing High School Students for the 21st Century Economy by Providing Resources and Opportunities to Create Genuine Projects with Industry Partners (work in progress)

Patty Quinones new Executive Director of Innovation for the St. Vrain School District will direct the Race to the Top grant (16.6 mil). Her leadership will be critical to execute the STEM Initiatives in this grant. Her lead in the areas of K-12 programming, integrating STEM curriculum in cores, developing teacher professional development, and opening the Innovation Center which will provide a pipeline for all students in the Skyline feeder for a vision of future opportunity and career success. Patty served as Principal at Skyline high school for 5 years , she transformed and formed the STEM & VPA Academies which have currently 500 students as part of these certification programs. She was instrumental in securing grants, business and educational partnerships for Skyline and continues to do this work in her new position. Ms. Quinones also organized efforts to implement: 1 on 1 Laptop Initiative, Mini-STEM Academy in the summer, HS Department of Computer Science, internships & jobs for STEM students. Ms. Quinones has presented at many national and regional educational conferences (ASEE, NSTA, CASE, CoCo STEM Forums). Co-authored: Best Practices in High school and Higher education.