To become Cognia STEM certified, Laguna underwent a rigorous review of the school and was scored in four domains: STEM community, STEM learning culture, STEM students’ experiences and STEM outcomes. This review was the culmination of a long, arduous and very thoughtful multi-year process that included students, teachers and community members alike, planning and engaging in interdisciplinary STEM learning experiences that are future-focused and rich in real-world problem-solving, which in turn helps our educators to develop critical thinkers engaged in meaningful inquiry and a deeper level of understanding. This process included peer observations and hundreds of artifacts demonstrating their proficiency in the 16 Cognia STEM standards.