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STEM³ Academy Announces Second Annual ‘Very Special Innovation Fair’

First STEM School in the Nation for Students with Special Needs to Host Free Family-Friendly Showcase of Discovery and Technology

LOS ANGELES – October 3, 2017 – The Help Group’s STEM³ Academy (pronounced STEM Cubed Academy), the first school in the nation to provide a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum to students with special needs, announces its second annual Very Special Innovation Fair – equal parts science fair, high-tech exhibition, art show, and community carnival. The free event will be a family-friendly celebration of talent, imagination, and discovery from young STEM enthusiasts, as well as some of the region’s innovative companies. Last year’s event proved to be very successful with 500+ in attendance. This year’s event is expected to draw a big crowd again.

Inspired in part by the Maker Movement, the event will have specific areas geared toward grade school, middle school, and high school ages and interests. In each area, there will be interactive opportunities for young people and families to build things, get involved in experiments and demonstrations, and take various gadgets for a ‘test drive.’

The Very Special Innovation Fair will allow hundreds of attendees to have a first-person experience in a range of STEM-related fields, including rocketry, robotics, 3D printing and production, virtual reality, and others. There will also be food and giveaways.

The school is hosting the fair to help people learn about the exciting things happening in STEM and how it is playing an increasing role in fields as diverse as manufacturing, medicine, design, and entertainment, among others.

According to Dr. Susan Berman, COO of The Help Group, “We’re focused on developing strategies and fun programming for young people that encourage a passion for STEM. Our first Very Special Innovation Fair proved successful. It’s a chance to show the community what is happening in STEM and how our young people can prepare to take these areas to an exciting new level in the future.”

Hosted by STEM³ Academy, a pioneering school that serves children and young people who are passionate about STEM topics and benefit from more individualized educational instruction due to social and learning differences, the Very Special Innovation Fair will demonstrate how science, technology, math, and engineering impacts its students’ day-to-day activities.

Dr. Ellis Crasnow, Director of STEM³ Academy and STEM Education at The Help Group says, “There is a high demand and need for qualified STEM talent. Our goal at STEM³ Academy and with the Very Special Innovation Fair is to help nurture those natural talents early on.”

STEM³ Academy is the newest school operated by The Help Group, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to serving children, adolescents and young adults with special needs. STEM³ Academy takes the particular strengths of students with social and learning differences and connects them with a STEM curriculum that expands their life options and positions them for lifelong success. The school has three campuses in Los Angeles – two K-12 programs in Valley Glen and Culver City, and a middle school program in Sherman Oaks.

The Very Special Innovation Fair will take place Saturday, November 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the STEM³ Academy Valley Glen campus (6455 Coldwater Canyon, Valley Glen). For more information on attending, sponsoring, or exhibiting at the Very Special Innovation Fair, please visit www.innovationfair.stem3academy.org.

About STEM³ Academy
STEM³ Academy is designed to prepare students with social or learning differences for meaningful careers in a wealth of fields, such as engineering, cyber-security, biomedical, coding, game development, accounting, web design and IT. A model school that infuses social and cognitive 21^st century skills (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity) into a project-based curriculum, STEM³ Academy is an entirely new educational model for students with these needs. Program features include an Innovation Lab and Maker’s Space with various resources for building and making; internships and job skills development through partnerships with business and industry; senior projects geared towards developing new solutions to real-world issues; and resources and counseling for college prep. More information on the school can be found at www.STEM3Academy.org.

About The Help Group
Founded in 1975, The Help Group is the largest, most innovative and comprehensive nonprofit of its kind in the United States serving children, adolescents, and young adults with special needs related to autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse and emotional problems. The Help Group’s ten specialized day schools offer pre-K through high school programs for more than 1,600 students. Its broad range of mental health and therapy services, child abuse and residential programs extends its reach to more than 6,000 children and their families each year. More information is available at www.thehelpgroup.org.