SUFFOLK, Va. — Suffolk city leaders are helping kick off the new school year by opening the doors to a brand new STEM Academy at Booker T. Washington Elementary School. It's in collaboration with Old Dominion University.

The STEM Academy is the first Elementary Lab School in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Suffolk City leaders, teachers, and staff celebrated the grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.

"We are going to kind of set the pace. We have lots of new technology coming, we have VR goggles coming," said Rachele Hirsh-Brooks, the STEM Academy's instructional specialist. "So we're talking about bringing our Birdsong Peanut Factor into our students; be able to identify simple machines and compound machines, and see how logistics work."

"Being able to really tap into th

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