Education Grad Honored for Innovative STEM Program

(BALTIMORE, Md.) – A local educator and Notre Dame of Maryland University graduate won a prestigious award for launching an innovative STEM program at her elementary school.

Emily Langton ’13, M’15 received a 2022 Program of Excellence Award from the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA), one of the world’s highest honors for K-12 education programs in STEM. Langton and her program co-leader will be recognized at the ITEEA conference and at a statewide banquet for establishing a model program in Maryland. The award celebrates excellence in STEM education that promotes technological literacy.

Langton helped initiate the Project Lead the Way Launch program for students at Owings Mills Elementary School in 2019. Today, 30 students in grades 3–5 meet weekly to engage in hands-on engineering, robotics, and technology challenges.

“I am very proud of everything we have accomplished so far. Our students have been working hard, and it’s evident in the work that we all have put in,” she said. “The Project Lead the Way Launch program has transformed the environment in which my students work. Children are naturally curious, and being able to present them with a challenge and watch the wheels turn is beyond rewarding.”

NDMU’s master’s degree program in leadership in teaching: STEM prepared Emily to develop out-of-the-box activities to inspire a passion for learning in her students.

“My master’s program at Notre Dame is what really propelled me forward into STEM education,” she said. “The courses were very hands-on and broke the norms of ‘one right answer’ to a problem or challenge. My professors’ guidance led me to be the STEM educator I am today.”

Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.