Lexi Schade, a junior at Monroe High School has won the Breaking Traditions Merit Award. The award is meant to recognize high achieving students who have completed a CTE program in a subject that is nontraditional to their gender. Schade has been interested in the STEM world for a very long time, and her interest in the STEM field has led her on the journey that allowed her to win this prestigious award. 

Schade has been interested in the world of science since she was a little kid, and as she has progressed in school, she has continued to take STEM classes. 

“Ever since second grade, I have been very interested in science. I started with the solar system like every other second grader does. From there, my love developed more into STEM. In fifth and sixth grade, I was a part of Project Sparkle with Ms. Ojens at Arborwood Elementary School which was a STEM club for all girls that happened after school. In middle school, I took stem classes, and in high school I took drafting and design, electromechanical design, since freshman year.” Schade said

Schade has learned a lot in those interesting science classes. What she learned in these challenging STEM courses helped her win this special award. 

“A lot of that class, especially near the basics level, is learning how to work with electricity and electronics, how to work with circuits, what resistors are, and how electricity works. If you plug something in to the wall, what is it actually doing? What does a battery actually have? Electrons, protons, neutrons, along with the basic parts of drones, and robots.” Schade said. 

After high school, Schade plans on sticking on the STEM track and plans to major in mechanical engineering to satisfy the high demand for engineers around the country. 

“My post secondary plans right now are to go into mechanical engineering. There is a lot of demand for all kinds of engineering right now, especially medical engineering, biomedical engineering, and auto mechanical engineering.” Schade said.