ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (KLFY) — The St. Martin Parish School Board hosted their first annual Magnet Program Showcase inside the St. Martin Early STEAM Academy gym. Students at the Early STEAM Academy and STEAM Academy participated in the event.

Families and community members were all in attendance as students from Pre-K through fifth grade showed off the skills they acquired during their time in the magnet programs. The event varied with many different performances from students in steam activities, as well as visual arts, dance, and music.

Jon Downs, the magnet coordinator of St. Martin Parish Schools, said the programs have a lot to offer.

“We are very excited to offer an array of STEAM activities, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math, and we are excited to offer pathways of learning on each of those different areas,” he said.

Downs also said it is amazing to see the kids be able to perform and learn these skills at such a young age.

“I think we’re learning that we need to give our students, even Kindergarten and Pre-K students, a lot more opportunity for things like this so we can push them as much as we can to learn as much as they can,” he said.

Marcie Kidder, a third grader, said she applied for the magnet program after watching the showcase and she hopes to experience the same excitement as the other kids.

“The things that made me want to apply to the STEAM program is, it seems so exciting because it’s so much more hands on then my other school was, so I think it might just be better, I like all of it because it was like ‘woah,'” said Kidder.

Jacob Lewis, a fourth grader at St. Martin STEAM Academy, said he enjoys participating in the E-Sports club at his school. He said the teachers at the school care for each and every one of their students.

“Teachers try to do whatever they can to help us succeed, one time we were taking a test, and I got the test wrong, but then my teacher stayed up all night to try to give me another chance the next day,” said Lewis.

Lewis sends a message to people to never lose faith in their dreams.

“Always follow your dreams, take the right path in life, and follow the only good people,” he said.

If you are interested in enrolling your child into one of St. Martin Parish Schools’ magnet programs, you can find the application here.

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