Students in East Jackson High School’s sustainability program, part of the school’s broader STEM initiative, are tackling real environmental challenges. They are designing composting systems, analyzing air quality, and experimenting with solar energy to understand how sustainable solutions take shape in the real world.  

With the help of a $1,849 grant from HireSmart Cares, the East Jackson STEM program gained classroom tools, testing instruments, and materials to expand its hands-on sustainability projects. Teacher Michael Shawler says the goal is simple: to help students learn by building, testing, and solving problems the way professional engineers do. 

“We want them designing stuff on their own, trying to figure out how things work before we tell them how it works,” said Shawler. “That problem-solving process, you can use that in any aspect of life.” 

Each of Shawler’s tenth-grade teams focuses on a unique environmental question, from improving air quality to recycling cafeteria waste, and creates a working prototype or system. One group built a worm-composting setup using lunchroom scraps to create nutrient-rich soil for the agriculture department.  

“We throw all this organic material away in the lunchroom,” said Shawler. “So why don’t we have some soil and throw that stuff in there?” 

Students present their findings in TED Talk-style presentations, complete with data, citations, and design documentation.  

Problem-Solving in Motion’ 

The sustainability program is just one part of East Jackson’s STEM learning. For instance, Shawler also leads a robotics class that includes several competition applying the same problem-solving mindset the STEM program emphasizes. 

Step into Shawler’s lab after school and you’ll find his robotics teams hard at work, preparing for robotics competitions.  

“I’d like to be a mechanical design engineer, and this, being able to design it and see how it actually works in real life, gives me a lot of experience that I wouldn’t otherwise have,” said Aspen Kong, a member of an all-female robotics team, the “Ladybugs.” Using Fusion 360, she and teammates transform her digital blueprints into physical designs. 

Her teammate Molly Childers explained how the team programs the robot’s movements, using “if that” statements that link Xbox controller buttons to specific actions.  

The team’s attention to detail, making sure a ball-shooting mechanism performs safely, mirrors the process of professional engineers anticipating problems before they happen. 

A Collaborative Approach

The teamwork in East Jackson’s STEM program extends beyond the students. Teachers across subjects meet weekly and stay connected through group chats to share progress and ideas. Shawler collaborates with educators in English, math, and science to strengthen his students’ research, writing, and technical reasoning. 

And the staff works together to provide outside perspectives for students. For instance, the chemistry teacher recently invited professionals who specialize in living roofs to speak to students. Shawler’s classes have toured Georgia Tech’s Kendeda Building, which has achieved full certification under the “Living Building Challenge” — the most rigorous performance-based green‐building standard in the world. 

Upcoming guest speakers include a nuclear engineer who will discuss the promise of fusion energy, which Shawler calls “the wave of the future.” 

These experiences help students connect what they learn at East Jackson to innovations happening worldwide.  

“Being able to see where we could save money or be more energy-efficient, engineers work on those problems every day,” said Shawler. 

Teaching for the Future 

Shawler wants students to understand the vast array of career possibilities they can find when they become good problem solvers.  

“I wish I knew as a high schooler what I know now, because I didn’t know these careers even existed,” he said.  

Several of his former students now study engineering at Georgia Tech and occasionally stop by to share their college experiences with current classes.  

“I got a bunch of kids at Georgia Tech right now, and they’re constantly telling me stuff…It’s just amazing,” said Shawler. “Like, OK, what are you doing? Tell me about these things. They come back and talk to students.” 

The robotics lab has become a community where students build confidence as well as machines, and that same spirit runs through the STEM program.  

“They like working in teams,” said Shawler. “They like making friends. It’s all encompassed in constant problem-solving.” 

Shawler often reminds his students that “not everything can be Googled.” In East Jackson’s STEM labs, students learn to find answers through experimentation, teamwork, and fighting through difficulties with persistence. With the help of a grant from HireSmart Cares, they are gaining those lessons in fun, hands-on ways. 

HireSmart Cares is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on helping students develop career-ready skills through grants, scholarships, and workforce development initiatives. To learn more about HireSmart Cares, visit hiresmartcares.org. Educators with innovative approaches to preparing students for industry-relevant skills can apply for a HireSmart Cares grant at hiresmartcares.org/ideas-application.