Cohoes joins regional partnership with GE Aerospace and UAlbany to bring middle‑school STEAM 'Discovery' program

Superintendent O'Shea told the Cohoes City School District Board of Education on Oct. 8 that the district will participate in a regional STEAM partnership led by GE Aerospace, UAlbany, MiSci (referred to in the meeting as "MySci") and New York Creates to bring a hands‑on engineering "Discovery" program to students.

"Yesterday, GE hosted a press conference," O'Shea said, describing a regional rollout that has run 26,000 students through similar programs internationally and is targeting 4,000 student slots in the Capital Region. She said Cohoes was among several early‑responding districts and that middle‑school Discovery sessions will be delivered at the district's middle school by program instructors.

O'Shea said the program will include both middle‑school and high‑school components; the high‑school portion will involve UAlbany and GE and will be rolled out to Cohoes high‑school students as those details are finalized. The district will coordinate logistics with MiSci to fit students into the program schedule, and Heather Bridal (named in the presentation) will receive contact information for the museum's executive director to arrange participation.

Board members and staff framed the partnership as an opportunity to strengthen student pathways into engineering and STEAM careers. One board member noted the program could support micro‑credentialing and career pathways aligned with postsecondary and workforce goals. The district said it has already built schedule flexibility at the middle school to accommodate the Discovery sessions and that further communications will be provided as enrollment logistics are arranged.