Sheedy Family Center
for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

The Sheedy Family Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) aims to cultivate a new generation of leaders who approach problems analytically within a mindset of sustainability, ethics, innovation, creativity, and data-informed decision-making to contribute meaningfully to the global community. The Center empowers students to think critically, problem solve, collaborate, and explore by providing a comprehensive and immersive STEM experience.

The Center for STEM advances its goals through:

The promotion of experiential, inquiry-focused, forward-looking, and innovative student experiences
A robust STEM curriculum that cultivates enduring understanding and essential skill development while nurturing interdisciplinary connections
Amplifying STEM education through state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and resources
Collaborative partnerships with alumni, our parent community, service-learning programs, Kinkaid’s Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Finance, and outside organizations to provide mentoring, internships, service learning, field experiences, and research projects
Community eventssuch as STEM Night, Science Symposia, workshops, and professional lectures for students, faculty, and families
Student participation in clubs, science fairs, STEM competitions, and extracurriculars that foster real-world problem-solving
Publicizing, promoting, and celebrating community STEM achievements

Facilities

Launch Pad

The Lower School Launch Pad is an innovative, hands-on learning space where students become creators. Students explore building, design, music production, coding, and filmmaking while using design thinking to turn ideas into real products. Through collaborative, teacher-integrated projects, students build creativity, flexibility, and problem-solving skills, growing into confident, imaginative thinkers who love to learn.

Greenhouse

The new Lower School Greenhouse, expanding from a small annex into a state-of-the-art facility, will serve as a year-round, hands-on learning lab that strengthens STEM education, sustainability, and students’ connection to nature. Using a greenhouse-as-lab model, students will take on roles as scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs while conducting experiments, analyzing data, and leading seed-to-sale projects through innovative, cross-curricular learning experiences.

The Nest

The Nest, the Middle School’s makerspace, is a hub for creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning. Open to all middle school students and teachers, it provides access to tools like 3D printers, laser cutter, robotics kits, and coding platforms for projects that connect with coursework and personal interests. Many projects are interdisciplinary, blending science, technology, engineering, art, and humanities to spark new ideas and approaches.

Bowden Upper School Engineering Room

The engineering room is a hub for project-based learning. In addition to a wide variety of equipment and sensors needed for the design process, the wide, rearrangeable tables can be configured to a variety of projects and team sizes. Its proximity to the makerspace enables students to combine traditional materials with top-of-the-line technology.

Bowden Upper School Makerspace

The new makerspace is a full classroom fitted with a CNC router, multiple 3d printers, a laser cutter and a water jet, in addition to work areas for electronics, sewing, and other tools. This room will be used for classes in the "maker" concentration of the Computer Science department starting in Spring 2026, but will also be a resource for other upper school classes and projects.

Bowden Upper School Robotics Lab

The Robotics Lab is the new workspace of the Falconeers, Kinkaid’s robotics team, as they prepare for competitions and encourage other students to join this innovative field.

Bowden Upper School STEM Research Lab

Students performing independent STEM research have a dedicated room to maintain materials and work on their projects. In addition to work space near the engineering room and makerspace, the room also contains a tissue culture hood and other specialized equipment.

The Backyard

Kinkaid has preserved space at the back of our campus as “The Backyard”, a native pond and prairie ecosystem that serves as an immersive learning lab and outdoor classroom for our students. This unique facility is available for all grade levels while providing an authentic experience for upper school environmental science students.

Programming

STEM Showcase

The STEM Showcase is a community-wide family event in the spring to celebrate student work in STEM. It combines a traditional science fair with professional-level research talks from the most advanced upper school students, projects from all three divisions, demonstrations from student clubs and teams, and fun activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Guest Speakers

The Papadopoulos Fellow program annually brings a prominent speaker in the field of biology to campus. Past Fellows have included Jane Goodall, David Eagleman, Michael Gazzaniga, and Leeland Melvin. The STEM Center will host additional speakers for the other divisions in the coming years. These speakers bring the excitement of STEM.

Student Clubs and Competitions

Coordinated by the Upper School STEM Student Leadership Board, students in all three divisions have the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities relating to STEM, including a range of clubs and local and national competitions. Kinkaid also participates in HOSA Future Health Professionals, a student-led organization that helps prepare future leaders in the health sciences. Students involved in HOSA have the chance to explore health careers, gain hands-on experiences, and develop leadership and teamwork skills.

STEM 8

In addition to their Physical Science courses, 8th grade students spend one trimester in the new STEM 8 course. In this course, students learn about digital technologies, how to build circuits from scratch using common components, and how to program microcontrollers to allow their built circuits to perform a wide variety of tasks. The course focuses on learning and understanding engineering processes needed to trouble shoot and improve designs. Each trimester students build at least one project that uses sensors to take measurements, and then use that STEM 8 project in their physical science lab work to improve the quality of their measurements.

College-Level Math Courses

Kinkaid offers two years of college level mathematics courses that are available for students who have completed Advanced Placement Calculus BC. Offered in alternating years, the paired one semester courses of Differential Equations and Linear Algebra and a full year course in Multivariable Calculus are technology-infused and application-focused courses that allow students to continue to build their critical mathematical thinking skills necessary for advanced STEM coursework in college.

Student Research

Upper school students are invited to pursue independent research in the STEM fields. Past students have worked in biology, chemistry, and astronomy, often collaborating with partners in major universities. Some student work has been published in peer-reviewed science journals. With the opening of our new facilities, we extend the idea of research to include “making”: designing, creating, and iterating prototypes to bring innovative products to fruition.

Internships

During Kinkaid’s Interim Term, seniors participate in internships in a wide variety of fields. In STEM, students have been interns at, among other places, NASA, hospitals in the Houston Medical Center, and prominent Houston energy companies. Rising seniors also have the option of pursuing internships during the summer before their 12th grade year.

Themes

Artificial Intelligence

As a recognized national leader among independent schools in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Kinkaid supports the safe, ethical, human-centered use of AI in teaching and learning. Students in grades 7-12 learn to use AI in their own creative, innovative research and projects. Faculty and staff employ AI as virtual assistants and thought partners in managing workflow and in developing engaging lessons and activities. The STEM Center collaborates with the Information Technology department to support these uses and to support student, faculty, and parent education about cutting-edge developments in AI.

Data Analytics

One of the most sought-after skills among businesses of all types is the ability to represent and analyze data and to draw beneficial conclusions from it. STEM classes across all three divisions educate students in these skills, beginning with simple counting exercises and building to advanced computerized statistical models. The STEM Center also supports extending these skills to other academic areas through our collaboration with the L.E. Simmons Family Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Finance and other academic departments.

Robotics

Many industries are using robotics, and Kinkaid’s students are introduced to this exciting new world from the earliest experiences at the School. Our pre-kindergarten students work with robots, developing the first pieces of algorithmic thinking as they guide their robots through maps and tasks that become more complex as the students grow. Progressing through the middle school technology program, by the time students are in Upper School Technology, they design robots for complex tasks as they compete against teams throughout Texas. Our students learn to code and to think logically through this real, hands-on application of mathematics, science, and technology.

Sustainability

Sustainable use of natural resources is a fundamental part of the STEM Center’s mission. The Center supports a variety of school sustainability efforts, including recycling initiatives across the campus, using sustainable materials in dining areas, and promoting the use of reusable water bottles. Students are encouraged to address sustainability topics in their engineering and design work in our STEM facilities. In collaboration with the School’s service learning initiatives, we support not just learning about sustainability but putting it into action throughout the Houston community.

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