Lauren Figy Cadigan was surprised to hear her name called at a state conference Oct. 16.
In front of the gathering of 500 educators, including 22 from Westfield, Cadigan was honored as the Massachusetts Project Lead the Way Leader of the Year. The award goes to a leader who is a champion in her district for the project, supporting program implementation and teachers. Cadigan is the supervisor of science, technology and engineering for Westfield’s public schools.
“We know how much Lauren has done to bring PLTW from pre-K to grade 12 in Westfield. We’re excited that she is being recognized at the state level. We know how amazing she is, and they’re recognizing it too,” said Westfield Curriculum Director Susan Dargie.
Project Lead the Way is a nationwide initiative to help public school students to develop in-demand, transportable knowledge and skills in computer science, engineering and biomedical science.
The project’s teacher training and resources support teachers as they engage their students in real-world learning. Approximately 12,200 elementary, middle and high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia offer Project Lead the Way programs.
“It was exciting, a big day — I didn’t know or I would have worn makeup,” Cadigan said the next day. She added, “It’s always a great conference — 550 people over there. If you look at Project Lead the Way across the state, I think they said over 130 districts have it. It’s a great curriculum with high-quality instructional materials. We are very fortunate to have it as one of our science, technology and engineering curriculums.”
At the conference, teachers attended professional development sessions to learn and collaborate with teachers from across the state.
“We ‘put Westfield on the map’ using Legos to represent our large group in attendance, from our elementary schools to our high school. We are grateful for the support from the One8 Applied Learning Hub in this initiative of bringing applied learning to our students,” said Dargie.
Cadigan was instrumental in first bringing Project Lead the Way to Westfield.
“We’ve been doing Project Lead the Way since 2018, but have recently completed our expansion into elementary schools, so there is a continuous PLTW pipeline over the next three years,” she said.
At the elementary level, Project Lead the Way provides units or modules for kindergarten through grade 6. In the Gateway program for grades 7 and 8 are three separate courses for automation and robotics, design and modeling, and computer science for innovators.
At the high school level, there are three separate Project Lead the Way engineering courses. Cadigan said Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a sponsoring organization of the curriculum, and students who take the courses in high school can get credit from WPI.
Asked whether the curriculum is having an impact on Westfield test scores, Cadigan said at the conference, the MassSTEM Hub shared data that students participating in Project Lead the Way curriculum score better on state MCAS tests than students who don’t.
“There’s no way to tell that in Westfield, because we are now K-12, and still rolling out the program,” she said.
Dargie said it was the Mass. Learning Project, formerly called the MassSTEM Hub, that nominated Cadigan for the award.
In addition to receiving a plaque, Cadigan received a book inscribed by her colleagues, “Something, Someday,” by poet Amanda Gorman.
“The book is about having ideas to make things better in the world, and that we all have the power to make a difference,” said Westfield pre-K to grade 4 STEM Coach Lindsey Ayers. Cadigan’s colleagues also made a congratulatory video for her.
At the end of what Cadigan called “a very long day,” her award was announced to the School Committee, which gave her a round of applause, along with her father, City Councilor Ralph Figy, who is the liaison to the School Committee.
“She makes a parent proud. She has worked tirelessly for the students and teachers of the Westfield Public Schools. It is nice to see this hard work being recognized by others,” Figy said.
“Lauren’s enthusiasm for Project Lead the Way, and science in general, is contagious. We are very fortunate to have her in the district,” said Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski.