- Academics
- Accomplishments
- Sage Ridge Spotlight
Dr. Brady Janes has made a transformative impact less than a year since joining Sage Ridge School’s faculty. A driving force behind several academic and extracurricular initiatives, Dr. Janes is shaping the future of science and engineering education at Sage Ridge.
Her leadership extends beyond teaching Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, Honors Chemistry, Intro to Engineering, and soon, Human Anatomy & Physiology. She also mentors students like Sophie Najjar ‘26, whose Upper School girls' STEM leadership program earned a prestigious grant from The Community Foundation of Northern Nevada this summer. The program will host a leadership conference for Upper School Sage Ridge girls this Sunday. Additionally, Dr. Janes spearheads science-themed lunch & learn sessions, engaging students in critical conversations to expose students to potential paths in science.
Seniors Keira Brodsky and Sophia Soran work on a challenge in Intro to Engineering.
Dr. Janes' latest achievement is securing a $16,000 engineering grant from Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a national initiative that enhances STEM curricula. The grant covered the cost of course materials and extensive professional development. Over the summer break, Dr. Janes completed 80 hours of intensive training in PLTW’s engineering curriculum, joining online classes at 5 a.m. to meet the rigorous requirements.
"The training is intense,” Dr. Janes said. “It covered logistics, environmental and municipal disaster planning, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and more.”
The PLTW Engineering course is designed to engage students through hands-on, interdisciplinary projects. They tackle real-world challenges like “designing homes for clients, programming robotic arms, and exploring algae as a biofuel.”
Dr. Janes’ dedication to meeting her students' interests led her to apply for the PLTW grant. Now, Sage Ridge seniors, sophomores, and juniors are diving into engineering, embracing challenges with curiosity and determination.
"The cool thing about the curriculum is that it is all based on real-world things that have happened or real problems,” Dr. Janes said. “How can we prevent and solve real-world problems? Step-by-step you get through these questions and by the time you get to the problem, you think, ‘I can do this!’”
Engineering will be offered again next year, and Dr. Janes encourages all Upper School students to consider enrolling, regardless of their prior knowledge.
"You don’t have to know anything about engineering, you just have to be curious about how things work, and curious about how you can improve the world we live in,” Dr. Janes said. “It is so applicable to everything. It is about innovation, trying to think of ways to make things better or more accessible.”
Sage Ridge is enrolled in the PLTW program for three years, but Dr. Janes hopes demand will continue.
"It is foundational. Every part of the course I’m teaching is critical thinking and solving problems,” Dr. Janes said. “If I’m thinking about chemistry and the periodic table, engineering is the element you need to build all these other molecules. And it is so applicable. Anyone could sit in this class, come up with any idea and we can see where it can go.”
Seniors Lance Zhou, Zach Power, Kaidan Collins and Caleb Mulvaney tackle an engineering challenge during the first week of school.
