Provincial education minister tours new Sudbury, Ont. school, announces STEM investment with Science North

Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce made a trip to Sudbury, Ont. on Thursday to announce a new investment with Science North.

However Lecce toured the brand new Lasalle Elementary School first, which is set to open this September for students from kindergarten to Grade 6.

Lasalle Elementary will be the Rainbow District School Board's (RDSB) latest French immersion school.

Lecce participated in a ribbon cutting as part of his tour, which showcased some of the 19 additional classrooms, a gymnasium and new library.

"Alot of small communities, rural communities, northern communities over many years have faced school closures, so it's brilliant to see a net new school being added to the roster," Lecce said.

"It's going to create a lot of opportunity for young people and frankly motivate them to get to school knowing that they're in the best learning space they have in the region."

The building, attached to Lasalle Secondary School, will incorporate about 350 students from Ernie Checkeris, Carl A. Nesbitt and Wesmount Avenue public schools which all closed in June.

Lecce then travelled to Science North to announce a $300,000 investment which will support hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) learning across northern Ontario.

The SPARK education program will be developed by Science North in a series of interactive and virtual lessons for teachers to use.

The experiences will also be offered at no cost to all 18 school boards across northern Ontario and engage almost 100,000 students.

"It can be the smallest village or the biggest town up north, I want every child to have equal opportunity when it comes to accessing scientists, science educators and the curriculum," Lecce told CBC Sudbury.

He added the investment, delivered through Science North, would modernize skill sets for financial literacy, coding and robotics to fit future job requirements.

A statement from the province detailed how Science North will create programming for monthly live streamed shows for students and daily virtual workshops on a variety of career-focused STEM topics with staff.

Starting in September, 26 lesson plans will also be offered on Science North's education resource site for all Ontario teachers to use in their curriculums.

"One of the gifts of the pandemic was really allowing us to further evolve how we serve virtually," said Ashley LaRose, CEO of Science North.

She added the remote learning format from the COVID-19 pandemic helps the SPARK program reach students across northern Ontario.

"We'll get them excited through their schools and then hopefully they'll pursue those careers in science."