Bok Knights Share Talents with Community

Bok Academy students recently put a new twist on an old idea.

The Lake Wales Charter school's "Renaissance Knight" didn't look back at history but instead provided parents and friends a chance to hear and see the talents and skills of hundreds of middle school students who sang, played and even showed off their television production skills.

Beginner and advanced orchestras from both Bok North and South performed on the outdoor stage at Bok South, along with school choirs and even the steel drum band.

Students wrote CODE – a series of instructions that tell computers what to do – as part of showing off Bok South's new STEM laboratory in a series of hands-on learning stations.

Students and visitors from around the community filled the STEM lab, green, and cafeteria with hands-on activities that explored concepts of science, technology, engineering, art and math. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

"Out students always look forward to sharing their knowledge and skills with parents and friends," Bok STEM teacher David Lockett said. "Including the arts component, which of course makes 'stem' turn to 'steam' is that final component that allows us to showcase the complete and well-rounded education that every one of our students receives."

The Renaissance "Knight" – that is the school's nickname – was made possible through a grant from Duke Energy through Polk Education Foundation, and a STEaMing Up Polk! grant also through PEF.