At Overland, STEM programming provides students with all of the advantages of attending a four-year comprehensive high school while specializing in a selection of courses in specific career interests. These courses, or career concentrations, provide students with an minimum of four credits during their four years in high school that include exploration of careers, industry standard certifications, and connections to industry though internships, independent study, and in some cases, advanced standing in college. All students are eligible to participate in STEM courses. Students may select one or two elective courses as part of their graduation requirements or complete an entire career concentration. Eligibility to participate in a course is determined by the completion of course prerequisite requirements. See our course guide for the latest information for our STEM programming.

In addition to STEM courses, Overland offers eleven different STEM related clubs and honor societies. Each club is directly related to a career pathway. Each brochure in the packet highlights the club and its activities. Students, who maintain a 3.0 GPA while pursuing a career concentration, qualify for our IST Scholars honor society. IST Scholars work together to design STEM Symposiums for high school, middle school, and elementary school students. IST Scholars receive special recognition at graduation and those students who meet the criteria for our IST Diploma qualify for guaranteed admission to the Colorado School of Mines and are recognized at graduation.

Contact Us

The Institute of Science and Technology at the Overland-Prairie Campus
12500 E. Jewell Avenue, Aurora, CO 80012

Kersten Mullan, Assistant Principal
kmullan@cherrycreekschools.org
720-747-3420

About the Facility

A state-of-the-art Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, or STEM facility, has been built on the esplanade between Prairie Middle School and Overland High School in the Cherry Creek School District. This Institute of Science & Technology (IST) building opened in August 2011, and the 58,000-square-foot structure serves 9th through 12th graders.

The program offers the following areas of concentration for students to compete for global opportunities leading to careers in Energy, Bioscience, Aerospace, Medicine and Information Technology.

• Health Sciences
• Computer Science & Applied Mathematics
• Arts & Technical Communications
• Engineering & Technical Sciences

Our Mission

To inspire students to be creative, critical thinkers, and collaborative learners to successfully compete for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math careers in the global workforce.

The Values

• Inspire student interest and passion for STEM career paths.
• Foster creativity, invention, and critical thinking.
• Incorporate project-based, interdisciplinary curriculum supported through teacher collaboration and technology.
• Provide students with authentic STEM experiences including research opportunities and internships.
• Create a world class facility providing highly qualified staff with unique development experiences alongside engineers, scientists, and researchers.
• Promote collaboration and cooperation in STEM fields among parents, higher education, and industry.

Why Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Now?

• 70% of all jobs now have a technical component and 90% of all jobs in the future will have technical component
• One-fourth of the current science and engineering workforce will have retired by 2010
• STEM education is the key to ensure that our students have the competitive edge in the local and global workforce.

Ten Green Features of the IST

1. Reflective Roofing
2. Exterior Materials
3. Building Orientation
4. Daylighting
5. Daylight Harvesting
6. Active Solar
7. Photovoltaics
8. Ice Storage and Peak Demand Reduction
9. Economizer Cycle
10. Destratification