WHO WE ARE
Summit Technology Academy (STA) is a shared campus of junior and senior students who come together for a half-day program as an extension of their home high school. STA is a career-focused academy designed to prepare students for tomorrow’s professional workforce. It is located at the Missouri Innovation Campus building, which is a cutting edge facility that looks and feels like today’s top collaborative workplaces. STA shares this facility with the University of Central Missouri–Lee’s Summit, creating a professional collegiate atmosphere for students from 30 public and private high schools sent from 18 school districts. Students who are driven, focused, and passionate about discovering their future career field will thrive at STA.
Read about how STA is considered KC Region’s Hidden Gem
WHAT WE DO
The mission of STA is to challenge students to achieve their personal best. STA is a national model for innovation by providing rigorous and relevant opportunities for students. STA develops life-long problem solvers through a culture of inquiry and critical thinking. The students and staff exemplify creativity, professionalism, and leadership.
Summit Technology Academy offers programs that blend classroom instruction with hands-on learning experiences. The teachers will prepare high school students for their education journey while immersing them in their chosen career path through a variety of on-site field experiences in local businesses, such as hospitals, city offices, engineering firms, data centers and biomedical labs. Click here to see our business partners page.
Summit Technology Academy has embraced the Professional Learning Community concepts by meeting the needs of each student every day. Summit Tech is recognized has a leading Technology Center That Works site.
A National Model
STA has been recognized in the national spot light as an innovative model to prepare juniors and seniors in high school
for high wage, high demand, professional careers. STA was honored as an exemplar school for 2016-17 by P21, The Partnership for 21st Century Learning for STA’s exemplary 21st century and innovative learning practices in preparing students for success in college, career and life. STA is the first secondary school in Missouri to earn this very prestigious distinction. Many schools, businesses, and organizations from the U.S. and from around the world visit STA each year. In fact, STA programs have been recognized by President Obama, multiple governors, and many other governmental and business leaders for their ability to provide rigorous programs of study that blend classroom instruction with real-world, hands-on experiences with over 200 business and industry partners. Our programs follow a national curriculum model used in industry such as the Cisco Networking Academy. Additionally, all STA courses are aligned to a college-level curriculum and many STA programs offer an industry recognized credential.
Centers of Excellence
The Summit Technology Academy is a pre-professional learning environment for high school students. It is operated by the Lee’s Summit R-7 School District and is a member of an area wide consortium of school districts called the Career Education Consortium. All of the programs at Summit Technology are Centers of Excellence as designated by the Career Education Consortium. Sending districts pay tuition for students to attend Summit Technology Academy. It is a privilege and an honor to provide rigorous programs of study for all interested students.
“The vision for learning at Summit Technology Academy is to challenge students to be independent learners, stimulate active engagement on the part of students and provide for individual differences and interests.”
-Elaine Metcalf, Former Director of Summit Technology Academy
Explore these links to learn more about Summit Technology Academy:
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15 Years at Summit Technology Academy from Digital Media on Vimeo.