A one-week summer academy was held on base at Quantico Middle/High School, June 13 – 17, 2011. Quantico's first STEM Summer Academy was a huge success with 42 Students in attendance that teamed up with 14 teachers and 16 scientists and engineers. The Students explored physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, robotics, mathematics and more. This STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) initiative supports the DoDEA curriculum standards.
Learn more about Summer Academies and View Photos.
On May 19, 2011, Stafford Middle invited parents and friends to STEM Night to showcase their students' accomplishments from the VDP robotics program implemented in their school. Throughout the school year, students worked in teams to construct their own investigation based on a problem that they found interesting. The robot had to be built, modified, and a computer program was written to run the investigation. During STEM Night, the students used display boards to show their work.
The William & Mary University Relations team recently visited Spotsylvania County schools to observe the Virginia Demonstration Project (VDP) in action. W&M was a guest at Ni River Middle School where they watched a group of 8th graders work together with a Dahlgren Scientist to conquer their robotics challenges. Spotsylvania County Schools has been working with W&M to implement the VDP program since 2006. Over the last five years, over 1500 students have participated in the program that is funded by the National Defense Education Program (NDEP). 
Walker Grant Middle School, in Fredericksburg, is implementing the 
