The Forsyth Central STEM Academy is a four year comprehensive program, which fosters a student centered learning community, with a culture of innovation and adaptive risk-taking, for the purpose of solving complex, non-routine, real-world problems.

 The integration of academic disciplines, combined with the STEM Biotechnology and Engineering pathways, allow students to develop transferable skill sets, aimed at maximizing not only a student’s intellectual and technological skills, but also their soft skills in communication, collaboration, service, and leadership. The Forsyth Central STEM Academy is home to roughly 250-300 STEM students grades 9-12 from across the district.

 Since its founding in 2011, the STEM Academy has used a competitive admission process to select students from around the Forsyth County School District. Applicants usually represent the top 10-25% of the feeder schools from around the districts and 60% of our population are students who are attending the STEM Academy out of district. 

​Students are selected, much like a college application process, by a team of reviewers who evaluate applicants based on grades, test scores, teacher recommendations, student organization, motivation, demonstrated interest in STEM subjects, submitted essay responses, and student video submission. This is a competitive admissions process and each year the number of highly qualified applicants has increased.

Application for the STEM Academy will be available in the fall.

Stay tuned for details about our STEM Meet & Greet Parent Night and Academies & Pathways Information Night--coming this fall!

Want to hear more about the STEM Academy?

Check out the Podcast below to hear from a student and teacher within the academy. 

All STEM students are required to participate in either the Technology Student Association (TSA) or the Health Occupation Student Association (HOSA) organization as their professional CTAE organization.

STEM Season of Competition (SOC)

In Georgia, STEM education is defined as an integrated curriculum (as opposed to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics taught in isolation) that is driven by problem-solving, discovery, exploratory project/problem-based learning, and student-centered development of ideas and solutions. As outlined by the Georgia Department of Education’s High School STEM Certification Rubric, all STEM students are required to annually participate in STEM competition.

The guidelines below should serve to simplify what all STEM students are required to complete in addition to the academic requirement and in order to continue in the STEM program.

• All STEM students are required to participate in either the Technology Student Association (TSA) or the Health Occupation Student Association (HOSA) organization as their professional CTAE organization.
  • Students are required to be members of either TSA (see Mrs. John) or HOSA (see Mr. Schuyler). 
  • Although some students may choose to participate in both organizations, their participation will be tracked through their career tech pathway. Some students may choose TSA or HOSA as their competition each year, or they may choose to compete in a different STEM co-curricular; however, they are still expected to participate in their professional organization.
• Students are expected to participate in a “Season of Competition” (SOC).
  • Since preparation/competition seasons vary by each club, the SOC will be specified by each club advisor. Please see attached SOC guidelines for the most common STEM related activities.
• Students participating in extracurricular activities (e.g. band, drama, and sports) should talk with a STEM teacher/advisor early, in order to plan how they can best fulfill the STEM competition requirement, in addition to their continued participation in extracurricular activities.
  • Students should have a plan of competition before the end of October. Allowances will not be made in the spring, for students who have not fulfilled their SOC.
• Events on the day of the competition do not constitute fulfillment of the competition requirement on their own. State guidelines clearly specify that students are involved in consistent, ongoing involvement and preparation for STEM events/ exhibits.
• It should be noted that engineering students may compete in biotech competitions and biotech students may compete in engineering competitions based on their interest. Please make sure to coordinate with the TSA or HOSA coordinator.
• Fulfillments need to be completed by the end of April. Students may compete after April, if they have been prepping for the competition throughout the year/season; making sure their active participation is well documented by either TSA or HOSA sponsors.
• If a specific STEM competition is not listed on the website, students can bring it to STEM team by end of October for consideration for the next school year. After October, the competition opportunity will only be considered for the following school year.