Fernan STEM Academy draws 439 to hands-on family night
Fernan STEM Academy’s May 14 family night drew 439 people, filling stations on Life Flight, gymnastics and engineering and topping the school’s 315-student enrollment.
Fernan STEM Academy packed its hands-on family night with enough activity to bring 439 people through the school’s doors, a turnout that outpaced its roughly 315 students and underscored how much demand there is for science learning families can see and touch.
The Exploring Our World event on May 14 turned the public K-5 school at 520 North 21st Street in Coeur d’Alene into a STEM showcase built around local expertise. Students and parents moved from station to station, learning about health care at a Life Flight nurse table, practicing movement with Avant Coeur Gymnastics and mixing cement with HMH Engineering. The mix of activities made clear that STEM at Fernan is not presented as a narrow classroom subject, but as something tied to medicine, construction, physical motion and the jobs people do across North Idaho.
That approach fits the school’s long-standing identity. The Coeur d’Alene School District describes Fernan as a STEM-focused school that uses science, technology, engineering and math as the foundation for critical thinking, experiential learning and creative problem solving. Fernan’s materials also say the school sits on ten park-like acres and that learners take part in hands-on STEM work with community experts and partners.
The family night was not a one-time experiment. Fernan’s STEM certification materials say the school regularly offers STEM-specific extracurricular and extended-day opportunities, including clubs and family nights. In May 2023, the school drew more than 400 visitors to a Health and Safety STEM night with stations on CPR, first aid, fitness, phlebotomy, respiratory systems, germs, medical entomology and dental health. A hands-on career night in May 2025 also tied STEM to career exploration.
That pattern matters in Kootenai County, where schools compete to show families that classroom learning connects to real life. At Fernan, the event’s size and the variety of local partners suggested that science night worked because it was not just a display. It gave children a chance to try things themselves and gave parents a clearer look at how the school uses community connections to make STEM visible, practical and local.
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