On behalf of the Thornton Academy Board of Trustees, faculty and staff, I am pleased to welcome our students and families back to campus. This is also an invitation to our entire community to join us in a celebratory event on Saturday, September 12.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the foresight of our trustees, I am pleased to announce that Thornton has added an eight-classroom wing onto the Scamman Science Building. As with all construction and renovation projects at Thornton Academy, this addition was paid for through private fundraising and private borrowing. There are now four new mathematics classrooms as well as four brandnew science laboratories. These expanded, state-of-the-art spaces, together with the engineering lab, comprise Thornton’s comprehensive “STEM Center.”

Thornton Academy already offers a full array of courses in the interrelated STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The STEM Center will afford Thornton students yet more and broader opportunities to learn and explore in these vital fields of study. The new spaces were designed to facilitate inquiry-based instruction and a creative, collaborative approach to problem solving.

The benefit to our young people will be exceptional. The U. S. Department of Commerce reports that STEM occupations are growing at nearly twice the rate of other fields. Our STEM Center is a crucial component of Thornton’s ability to meet our mission of “preparing students for a changing world.”

Please join me, and the Thornton Academy trustees, on Saturday, September 12 for the STEM Center opening, with tours, refreshments and a ribbon cutting ceremony. Festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. in the Atrium. And be sure to stay on for the football game – the Trojans take on Cheverus at 1:30, always one of the best football match-ups of the season. We hope to see you on campus.

Rene M. Menard

Headmaster,

Thornton Academy