“Every Career Day I would show up in a lab coat because I love science so much,” said STEM Academy freshman Miguel Smiley. “Since science is part of STEM I thought it would be a good fit.”
Miguel Smiley’s passions perfectly aligned at the STEM Academy at Nimitz Middle School. All of his favorite things are founded in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That includes Minecraft - one of his favorite video games. When Smiley was trying to pick a project for the eighth-grade Science Fair, he went with Minecraft, coding and spatial reasoning. His “MIND Craft” project now ranks among the top 300 in the nation.
“Minecraft helps you with your spatial reasoning and coding,” said Smiley. “So, my project was about how this could be an educational course. We’re actually using Minecraft in my computer science class right now.”
Smiley is one of the top 300 competitors in the 2021 Broadcom MASTERS® — the nation’s premier STEM competition for middle school students. He attributes much of his success and inspiration to the incredible teachers and engaging lessons he engaged in.
“The PBLs, or project-based learning, was my favorite part. Basically, you get a big team of people and you work on a project that goes through every single core class that you have. So, it incorporates all your classes into one big project. “
The foundation he learned in middle school seamlessly transferred to the STEM Academy at LEE High School. Smiley hopes to continue his passion for STEM in a computer science or engineering career.
Congratulations, Miguel!
Click here to learn more about the 2021 Broadcom MASTERS finalists.
