SHELBURN, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Northeast School Corporation hopes to inspire students to develop a passion for science, technology, engineering, art/agriculture and math (STEAM) by starting them young and engaging them with new learning spaces featuring robots and 3D virtual reality experiences.

NESC has created a dedicated high-tech learning space, known as the “Wonder Lab” to invigorate their STEAM programs.

The lab encourages students and teachers to think outside the box and provides students the skills they need to thrive in their future careers, from technical skills to critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, communication and collaboration.

NESC’s state-of-the-art Wonder Lab was created in June by hardworking teachers and their families through high ability grant dollars.

It opened for summer camp in July, where students were engaged in solving complex questions, problems and challenges.

All NESC students were invited to spend time in the lab in September, with additional dates scheduled throughout the school year.

The lab gives all teachers in the corporation access to the facility allowing them to expand on their STEAM course offerings and take their lesson plans to the next level.

“We hope this wonder lab will open up opportunities for all teachers in our corporation,” said program coordinators Ashley Rogers and Gretchen Brown. “There will be opportunities to extend learning experiences outside of the classroom. The lab offers a variety of resources from VR headsets, apple pens, and robots of different types.”

Northeast School Corporation will host a special ribbon cutting ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday followed by an open house where the community is invited to come in and experience the lab until 7:30 pm.

The lab is located at Northeast School Corporation (formerly NEMS), 620 N. Washington Shelburn, IN.

Program coordinators will be available for questions during the open house.