SANDY, Utah — At Beehive Science and Technology Academy in Sandy, students learn to embrace science, engineering, technology and math in every aspect of their lives.
The public charter school enrolls students from kindergarten all the way through high school and was recognized as FOX 13's Cool School of the Week.
Before the bell even rings, students gather for a club centered around financial investment.
Learning skills many adults don't even know, the students are taught basic finance and investment.
Coach Scott Colby heads up the club, guiding students along their path to financial literacy. The team competes against other high school students, seeing who can get the most bang for their (fake) bucks.
"They give $100,000 of fake money and you've got to invest in the stock market and learn who's going to get the most gains," Colby explained.
Skills learned in the club are so applicable that Pasha, a 16-year-old junior at the school, is working for a hedge fund in Texas as he continues his high school education.
"I've been working really hard, learning a lot of new concepts and things," he reflected. "It took three years to get here so a lot of hard work and experience gets you anywhere really."
Other students choose to focus their time as members of the robotics team.
Kerrie Upenicks is a leader of the school and explained that the robotics team is completely student-driven.
"These kids are completely independent in here," she said. "Their coach comes in, watches them, gives them a little guidance. They're building, they're doing their coding, they set up everything."
Tanner, a student at the school, is captain of the team and showed how robots are designed and built to navigate through a series of obstacles.
Once complete, students take their designs head-to-head with robots from other schools across Utah.
Last year, Tanner said a design flaw led to the downfall of their robot, but the team is back and ready to make improvements in order to secure a win.
The team focuses on teamwork through their design and construction process.
For younger students, exposure to STEM begins as a once-a-week lab for an hour where they participate in hands-on activities.
During FOX 13's visit, a group of students were building with Lego.
"They follow the directions on how to build it, and then they code it," explained Upenicks.
What may look like fun playtime is actually teaching elementary-aged kids how to follow instructions and code an object to do a simple task like spin.
"It's not just technology, we also bring in that creative side so they can learn and see how science works with creativity," Upenicks said.
With a focus on the future and their eyes on how technology shapes our everyday life, the students agree that Beehive Science and Technology Academy is one cool school.
