The California STEAM Academy (CSA) is a finalist in the XQ Super School Project contest

LOS ANGELES - July 24, 2016 - PRLog -- Laurene Powell Jobs challenged America to reinvent the American High School with Project XQ. Dawn Guest-Johnson, a Los Angeles educator, raised her hand to rethink high school in Los Angeles with the development of The California STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Academy. On July 20^th, the California STEAM Academy team, which consists of core team members Funmi Ajayi, Paul DeBonis, Dawn Guest-Johnson, Karen Harris, and Mila Thomas Fuller, advanced to the final 50 schools in hopes of obtaining the XQ SuperSchool grant.

The California STEAM Academy (CSA) is a community of lifelong learners committed to students' success in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. CSA is dedicated to developing active learners who value knowledge, skills, and understanding through the implementation of the constructivist-learning model. CSA believes in empowering students through authentic learning experiences that encourage the development of leadership skills and the social and emotional learning core capacities. CSA will serve all students and believes that every student deserves a quality education no matter their background or socioeconomic status. Along with developing students' thinking for the 21^st Century, CSA gives students choice offering a weekly flex period where students focus on developing their own interests with the support of teachers, counselors, industry experts, and community members. CSA focuses on developing the whole student academically and socially, offering a rigorous college prep curriculum linked with Career Technical Education courses in Information Technology, Arts, Media, and Entertainment, and Engineering integrating technology and inquiry in every course. CSA offers advisory for all students developing their social and emotional learning core competencies and exploratory colloquiums for enrichment. CSA hopes to be the first 6-12 Affiliated Start Up Charter School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The California STEAM Academy team consists of advisory board members, industry professionals, students, educators, and parents who consistently share their expertise in the areas of school design. CSA supporting team members are William Abanyie, Jason Beaton, Adrienne Burrows, Dorcas Guest, Erica Grace, Raphye Alexius, Sam Ceja, Jasmine Chavez, Doug Drexler, Rodney King, Lauren Leitner, Tyler Nelson, Sheryn Ngofa, Mark Roden, Elizabeth Runkel, Kendell Shaffer, and Cassandra Williams.

For more information on XQ The Super School Project, visit http://xqsuperschool.org/. For more information on the California STEAM Academy, please email californiasteamacademy@gmail.com. On August 4^th, XQ will announce the 5 winning schools.