Editor’s note: The following is 13th in a series of articles previewing the upcoming school year at public and private schools in Athens and Limestone County.

School name: SPARK Academy

Principal: Dr. Beth McKinney

Amount of time as principal: First year

Grades: K-4

Total number of students: 380

Total number of teachers: 30

Total number of support staff: 14

New programs: “Last year, Athens City Schools launched an innovative STEM program on a small scale to see if the concept met the needs of the students and the community,” McKinney said. “We are building on the success of that initiative to become SPARK Academy at Cowart, the district’s first school-wide, themed academy.”

What makes SPARK Academy special: “Our people make SPARK Academy at Cowart special. Our students, parents, teachers, employees and community members work together to make every day matter for our students.”

Primary objectives for 2017-2018: “Our primary objective is to create situations that spark curiosity which will lead students to ask questions, gather data, find answers, discover or develop solutions and share information. We want to empower, engage and support students to become independent yet collaborative thinkers.”

What the principal is looking forward to: “Our teachers have been collaborating, planning and preparing all summer to develop project-based units that create conditions for student inquiry and discovery. I look forward to seeing the result of all of the teachers’ efforts when children get excited about thinking and learning. There will be bright eyes and big smiles every day at our school. It is going to be a great year.”