Tesla STEM High School
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Tesla STEM High School (officially Nikola Tesla Science, Technology, Engineering & Math High School, formerly STEM High School) is a
magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
in
Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. The city h ...
operated by the Lake Washington School District. It serves as a lottery-selected choice program and offers a STEM-based curriculum.


History and facilities

In February 2011, facing substantial sustained and projected future enrollment growth, the Lake Washington School District issued a levy measure to raise $65,400,000 in property taxes from King County residents to fund the construction of expanded facilities at Redmond High School and Eastlake High School as well as the construction of the new STEM High School. The ballot measure passed, and preparations on these population expansion projects began immediately. In December 2011, the Absher Construction Company won the lowest bid for the STEM High School project at $24,080,000 and began construction work in February 2012. The school's faculty and programs began accepting ninth and tenth grade students in September 2012 for the 2012-2013 school year, but the students were located in the facilities of Eastlake High School until the new dedicated STEM High School was completed in January 2013. The school began admitting eleventh and twelfth grade students in September 2013 and September 2014, respectively. In 2014, STEM High School formally changed its name to Nikola Tesla Science, Technology, Engineering & Math High School, shortened to Tesla STEM High School. The two-story school occupies a 21-acre campus.
Modular building A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricate ...
techniques were used to construct the school due to permitting and time restrictions. The majority of the building was fabricated offsite, with four sections, including the common area, built on site. Students are admitted from across the district on a lottery basis with around 150 students per grade for a total enrollment of approximately 600 students. In 2025, the school has accepted 160 freshman.


Awards

In 2017, two Tesla STEM students were awarded the President’s Environmental Youth Award from the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
. In 2021, students 3D printed thousands of masks for local hospitals. In 2021 and 2022, Tesla STEM won the Washington Sea Grant's Orca bowl, a marine science competition. In 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranked Tesla STEM High School first in its annual "Best Washington High Schools" list and twelfth in its "Best U.S. High Schools" list. In 2023, four students won awards in the Regeneron Pharmaceuticals International Science and Engineering Fair, and in 2024, two students and a teacher were honored with
Regeneron Science Talent Search The Regeneron Science Talent Search, known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and then as the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) from 1998 through 2016, is a research-based science competition in the United St ...
awards. Tesla STEM also won first place in the regional National Science Bowl. In 2024, the school was rated the third best high school in the nation.


Academics

The school's course offerings and overall academic approach are focused on emphasizing the four STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students are required to take courses in science and math, as well as engineering and technology via indirect integration in other courses, through twelfth grade. Key tenets of the school's curriculum include leveraging
problem-based learning Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution ...
, a professional learning community, integrated curricula,
scientific inquiry Models of scientific inquiry have two functions: first, to provide a descriptive account of ''how'' scientific inquiry is carried out in practice, and second, to provide an explanatory account of ''why'' scientific inquiry succeeds as well as it ap ...
, and constructivist learning.STEM HS - About us
Retrieved 2014-01-22
In principle, the school's curriculum is designed such that ninth and tenth grade focus on foundation: building skills such as understanding and applying the engineering design process, collaboratively working in a
Problem-Based Learning Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem found in trigger material. The PBL process does not focus on problem solving with a defined solution ...
(PBL) environment, as well as other critical thinking aspects. Eleventh and twelfth grade students focus on application: selecting a concentration of study and conducting independent research. In the 2014-2015 academic year, the school began four “Signature Programs," open to students from all comprehensive high schools in the Lake Washington School District: Eastlake High School, Juanita High School,
Lake Washington High School Lake Washington High School (LWHS) is a four-year public high school in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle. History and facilities Lake Washington opened as Kirkland High School (also called Union “A” High School) in 1922, the ...
, and Redmond High School. Eleventh graders are given the choice between selecting two signature labs: Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Design, or AP Psychology and Forensics. Twelfth graders may either take the Advanced Physics Lab (AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism and AP Physics C: Mechanics) or Biomedical Engineering alongside Anatomy and Physiology. In 2023, the school had 100% participation in AP coursework.


Athletics and clubs

Athletics and sports programs are not offered at the school. Students who wish to participate in such programs must do so at one of the four aforementioned comprehensive high schools whose boundaries within which they reside. The school has nearly 40 clubs. The TED-Ed club hosted TEDx independent events from 2016-2019.


Courses and pathways

Tesla STEM's course catalog for the 2021-2022 school year can be foun
here
A total of 12 AP courses are offered, including AP Computer Science Principles (9), AP Biology (10, optional), AP Environmental Science (10), AP Language and Composition (11), AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism and AP Physics C: Mechanics (12, optional senior lab), AP Calculus AB (varies, 11th most common), AP Calculus BC (varies and optional, 12th most common), AP Computer Science A (elective), AP Chemistry (elective), and AP Statistics (elective). Typical learning pathways at Tesla STEM include the computer science pathway (AP CS Principles (9), AP CSA (10), Data Structures (11), Advanced Projects in Java (12)), the engineering pathway (Engineering 1, Engineering 2, Engineering 3), and the life sciences pathway (AP Biology (10), AP Psychology (11), Biomedical Engineering and Anatomy/Physiology (12)). Four signature labs are offered at STEM, with students being given the option to choose two of them. In 11th grade, students have the choice between Environmental Engineering / Sustainable Design and AP Psychology / Forensics, whereas in 12th grade students choose between the Advanced Physics Lab and Biomedical Engineering / Anatomy and Physiology. The school is partnered with nearby businesses to offer junior-year internships.


References


External links


LWSD School Web Page

OSPI School report card for "Unnamed STEM School Under Construction" 2013

''Grand Challenges for Engineering'', The National Academy of Engineering

M SPACE Holdings
{{authority control Public high schools in Washington (state) High schools in King County, Washington Schools in Redmond, Washington 2012 establishments in Washington (state) Prefabricated buildings