STEM is an interdisciplinary elective at Kalani encompassing studies in science, technology, engineering, and math. The school requires students to participate in two national STEM-based competitions. The first competition is Science Fair in January. Other competitions are Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Mauna Kea Scholars.

“I would say that right now since we are doing our science fair stuff, it is mostly independent but there are a few groups working on the Samsung projects and their Mauna Kea projects,” STEM student Vance Takiguchi said.

This class is graded on effort, and you have to turn in progress reports, unlike other classes with worksheets. The class is also performance based.

“If you have a research paper to do some people do that because it pertains to what they are doing, some people don’t.” Vance Takiguchi said.

The students are very self-directed. They have to use what they are given and succeed with their own hard work. There are no teacher lectures and or tests.

“It’s not a normal classroom where the teacher sits in front of the class and you do homework and do tests,” Vance said.

As long as you are doing what you want to do, students say, then you will succeed in the class.

“I would recommend this class to another person if they enjoy project-based learning. If they like doing projects more so than tests or if they’re planning to go into a STEM field this is a good class for them,” Vance explains.