Scott Hudson, Jim Pitochelli, and Olivia Pipala

Hudson and Pitochelli’s innovative teaching idea “Biology Engineering Arts Science and Technology (BEAST),” focuses on a STEAM-based Career & Technical Education (CTE) program in which students explore the roles the Arts and Sciences play in the Special Effects (SFX) of the film and theme-park industries. Teams of students will choose a historical person, research their lives and write and record a short speech of what they said or might have said in order to create a robotic version of this person. The “BEAST Program” will connect classroom learning to real-world careers and needed skills, including engineering, woodworking, welding, and 3D printing, as well as art skills such as drawing, sculpting, painting, mold-making, casting, and special effects makeup.