Struthers hires middle school STEM teacher

STRUTHERS

STEM is on the minds of Struthers school district administrators this year.

The district recently hired a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math teacher at the middle school and plans to get donated 3-D printers for the high school and middle school in about a week.

Dom Larricia is the district’s first STEM teacher in the middle school. Superintendent Joseph Nohra said the school district would like to hire another teacher, but he said it is too early to tell whether that is a possibility.

“The plan is to have [Larricia’s class] and a full-time STEM class for seventh- and eighth-grade students,” he said. “We have to look at funding, though. We don’t want to say for sure we can do this.”

Nohra said the school district needed to hire Larricia to teach a nine-week course called STEM for middle school students. He said this is Larricia’s first year of teaching. Larricia studied math and science at Youngstown State University.

Nohra said the middle school and high school will each receive a 3-D printer within the next week.

“Youngstown is a hub for 3-D printing,” Nohra said. “We want to be a part of that by training students about that industry. I think all school districts want to provide folks to enter that workforce.”

Read more about the district's STEM plan for students in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.