Arcade Fundamental Middle School and El Camino Fundamental High School celebrate partnership with a construction tour

On Nov. 15, students and staff from Arcade Fundamental Middle School and El Camino Fundamental High School celebrated their new partnership by touring Arcade’s campus modernization construction site.

Students from Arcade’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) and media classes, alongside students from El Camino’s Eagle Polytechnic Institute (EPI), participated in the tour to view an exclusive sneak-peek at Arcade’s future multipurpose building and classrooms.

“I was really excited to see our huge multipurpose room and STEAM lab building,” said Kylie Pratt, sixth-grade student at Arcade.

With funding from the Middle School Foundation Academies Planning Grant, Arcade is collaborating with El Camino’s EPI program to develop an introductory STEAM class for Arcade students. Through this class, Arcade students will also have the opportunity to connect and learn from El Camino’s EPI Career Technical Education pathway. These skills include research, communication, presentation and project development in the fields of architecture, manufacturing, engineering and electronics.

With a STEAM pipeline in the works between Arcade and El Camino, students and staff are looking forward to exploring these fields on their fully redesigned campus.

“We are very excited about the connection and collaboration with El Camino. It is going to be great for our younger students to see first-hand what they can complete in high school,” said Vicky Velasco, media teacher at Arcade. “El Camino students love to come back and share their skills and projects, it gets our students excited.”

Arcade’s modernized campus is expected to be completed by Fall 2024. The full campus redesign includes a new maker space, classroom buildings and multipurpose room. This modernization project was made possible through voter-approved bonds. For more information about Arcade’s campus, visit its construction webpage.