Houston, Texas (KTRK) – Students at Northland Christian on Houston’s North Side dive again for another school year.
Mycah Hatfield, the ABC13 reporter, attended the school there for 13 years, from kindergarten to 12th grade.
She came back last week and was able to catch up with many of the teachers and staff who were there when she was there.
Since graduation, preschool, elementary, middle, and high schools have all been consolidated into a single campus in Sylvanfield near FM 1960 and Stuebner Airline.
The school has since launched several new programs, including the Elementary Robotics Program.
Starting in the third grade, students can take the STEM heavy class.
Amy Owens, who teaches the class and after-school robotics club, said students learn coding, engineering, math, science, problem solving, teamwork, and communication.
While Mycah was visiting her university, a 5th grade robotics class was coding robots to go on a “space mission”. They had to program their robot on the iPad to “circle the moon,” pick up moon rocks and return to Earth.
“It’s exciting to finish a program that takes you,” said fifth grader Sammy Duke. “This is our third day of this, and most of us are about to finish the program.”
Owens said that each of her student’s tokens would look different based on the workings of their minds. It is trying to build on their strength.
“I think the most powerful thing bots do is make sure they know how to solve problems and it’s okay to fail,” Owens said. “A lot of times kids want to be perfect instead of achieving something and failing and going on.”
Duke was part of an after-school robotics program last year, where they delve into coding. He hopes to be a part of it this year.
He said he wanted to be a soccer player when he grew up, but he’s added to that since he started robotics.
“In third grade, after the robotics program, I became interested in science, chemistry, and stuff, so I decided I wanted to be an engineer,” Duke said.
Northland also launched an international program about 10 years ago.
Currently, they have around 29 international students from Portugal, France, Nigeria, China, Thailand, Mexico and many other countries. They expect this number to increase throughout the semester. Most of the students are in high school.
Liz Chavez is the Director of International Programs in Northland.
She said students go through an application process to make sure they fit in. Chavez said they test their English skills to ensure they succeed in class.
Once here, the boys can live in housing on campus, or they will live with a host family or with their families in the area.
They take the same classes as the local students.
“They don’t often have the opportunity to take some of the lessons that are offered in Northland, including AP classes, specialized classes, such as the debate program or robotics, or to play sports alongside the academics,” Chavez said. “A lot of these students also want to continue earning an American college degree.”
Chávez said there were international students who won prizes in subjects at the end of the school year they hadn’t studied before.
“Students here take world history, they take geography, and they take all of this material that students in other parts of the world learn in a different way or from a different perspective,” Chavez said. “Their contribution to the classroom could be very beneficial for some of our students.”
Beginning this school year, Northland brought in a chef and opened a café for their parents and students to enjoy.
Chef Gabriel McKnight and his team prepare lunches from scratch for students every day.
In the past, he worked as a personal chef for the Houston Texans.
He’s proud that they make everything from scratch, including sauces, gravy, hamburgers, and fried chicken tenders.
“I really do care about children, so I try to give them that in food, and build that bond with them,” McKnight said. “Our addition complements the vision of Northland and any other school we go to.”
Campus staff said McKnight has completely revamped their lunch program, and now students are lining up to get their hands on what he’s cooking.
Next month, they’ll start making meals that families can take home to warm up for dinner.
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