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Signature Program: STEM

 
 
 
 
 
 
STEM opportunities include:
  • Robotics 1
  • Robotics 2
  • Advanced Robotics
  • Introduction to Architecture
  • Coding
  • Computer Science
  • AP Computer Science Principles
  • Amazon Future Engineer Program for Computer Science
  • Robotics Club
 
Awards and Accomplishments:
 
Robotics
 
computer
 
St. Catharine Academy has earned the College Board AP® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science Principles and this year for Computer Science A. Schools honored with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award have expanded girls’ access in AP computer science courses.

The SCA Robotics Team was the first all girls team with a female coach in New York State and in the Northeast to qualify for Nationals in the VEX competition.
 
The Robotics team has won the following awards:
  • National BETA Award "School of Distinction" 2021 and 2022
  • Excellence Award
  • Design Award
  • Innovate Award
  • Create Award
  • Judges Award
  • Build Award
  • Sportsmanship Award
  • College Board Award for Female Diversity in AP Computer Science Principles
 
Th.is year, the team has won the Design Award and the Judges Award (3x). They have qualified for States.
 
In 2021, the Robotics team qualified and competed at "Worlds" for the World Championship Drone Virtual Robotics Competition ranking 25th internationally.  In addition, the Robotics team won the "Design Award" again in 2021 as well as School of Distinction. This year 2022 the Robotics team competed live and won "Sportsmanship Award," and "Judges Award" (2x) including the NY State Vex Competition.
 
In 2022, the Drone Team ranked 5th internationally at "Worlds" for the World Championship after the March 2022 Drone Virtual Robotics Competition.
 
APP Team won:
DEP Award for App Design in Conservation and Water Usage
(received global recognition through Mercy Education System of the Americas)
 
 
Recent Colleges and Universities students attending:
 
  • Manhattan College
    • Civil Engineering
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Electrical Engineering
    • Computer Science & Computer Engineering,
    • Chemical Engineering
  • Vaughn College
    • Electrical Engineering & Electronics
  • Hofstra University
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Biomedical Engineering
  • Lafayette College
    • Mechanical Engineering
  • SUNY University at Buffalo
    • Aerospace Engineering
  • Stony Brook University
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Electrical Engineering
  • Adelphi University
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Biomedical Engineering
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic University
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Electrical Engineering
  • NYIT (NY Institute of Technology)
    • Architecture 
    • Physics
    • Biomedical Engineering
 
High School Summer Program Partnerships:
 
  • Einstein Enrichment Program with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program sponsored by Manhattan College
  • STEM for Every Student|Your Path to Princeton at Princeton University
  • STEM to SHTEM at Stanford University
  • Engineering Tomorrow Summer Program
  • Georgetown BioTech Summer Program
  • Stanford University Engineering partnered with: MIT, Harvard, Brown, Oxford & Cambridge Universities
  • Ambassador Leadership Summit at Harvard Law School 
  • National Academy of Future Physicians & Medical Scientists in Cambridge, MA
  • Georgia Institute of Technology Summer Engineering
  • Tufts University Summer Engineering Program
  • Rochester Institute of Technology - Summer Engineering Program
  • MIT MITES/MOSTEC Summer Program
  • AI Summer Immersion Program
  • Thomas Jefferson University Summer Academy - College of Architecture and the Built Environment - Exploring the Architectural Disciplines
 
Coral Reef Project

The Sisters of Mercy have asked each Mercy school to incorporate the critical concerns for Earth, nonviolence, racism, women, and immigration into its policies, programs, and practices.

The National Beta Club participated in the Global Hour of Code for Computer Science week around the world.  The topic focused on the critical concern for the Earth.  The students coded an autonomous, environmental-friendly robot that would run underwater to help clean up garbage in different bodies of water.  This particular underwater robot eats garbage at the bottom of the depths of the oceans. 

The project is called the Coral Reef, where a robot drives around the bottom of the ocean (or pool) and collects garbage. At the end of the program, it gives you the total weight of garbage collected by this robot which was 29.5kg = 65.04 lbs.

The robogirls mathematically grid, plot coordinates, and code geometric shaped motion patterns: a "rectangular perimeter," a "diagonal" and a "figure-8" which repeats each motion in a loop until each task is completed.   As the robot moves underwater it loses its charge of 95-100% and drives until ready to be recharged in intervals of 1 minute.   We were able to collect a maximum of 29.5kg = 65.04 lbs. of garbage in 1 minute of robotic driving time!   

 

3D Printer in action in the Robotics Lab
 
3D Printer