Mt. Ararat High School STEM Night Draws 500 Attendees, 40 Vendors

Five hundred people filed into Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham on January 30 for the school's second annual STEM Night, an event organized in part by Community Learning and Extended Learning Opportunities Coordinator Doug Ware that brought together more than 40 vendors for an evening of hands-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics exploration.

Among the stations was an aviation simulator where students practiced landing a plane, a detail that captures the event's broader ambition: connecting Topsham teenagers to professional fields they might not otherwise encounter inside a classroom. The Maine Department of Education described the evening as "transforming the school into a dynamic hub of innovation, collaboration, and hands-on discovery."

Ware's role at Mt. Ararat sits at a busy crossroads. The Maine DOE, which spotlighted the event in a March 6 newsroom piece, described the work of community and extended learning coordinators as occupying "the intersection of academics, career readiness, partnerships, and student support, connecting what happens inside the building to real-world opportunities outside of it."

The school's STEM Night efforts are tied to a Maine DOE ELO Expansion grant, through which the department says Mt. Ararat "has demonstrated exemplary leadership in advancing high-quality" extended learning opportunities. The DOE framed the school's approach as proof that "innovative, community-connected learning deepens student engagement, supports informed postsecondary decisions, and helps students envision futures grounded in real experience, meaningful relationships, and opportunity."

For a second consecutive year, the scale of the event underscored what a Topsham school can mobilize when it builds outward. "STEM Night was an event that reflected what is possible when schools and communities work together," the Maine DOE wrote, adding that Mt. Ararat "continues to model how education can be both rigorous and relevant, preparing students not just for graduation but for life beyond it.