This year marks the Portland Public Schools 11th Annual STEM Expo, which PPS puts on each year in partnership with EnviroLogix.

The STEM Expo features exhibits put on by local businesses, postsecondary schools and other organizations. There will be a total of 45 exhibits in 2025, on topics that range from aquaculture, engineering, chemical reactions, farming and the human body.

The STEM Expo is a way to showcase the STEM learning occurring in Portland Public Schools’ classrooms. The Expo also expands students’ STEM knowledge and exposes them to exciting career opportunities in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

The Expo will again involve three separate events. Portland High School will kick off the STEM Expo on Friday, March 21, hosting the event from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Students from PHS and King Middle School will be attending.

On Friday, March 28, Deering High School will host an event that will run from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., DHS students and Lincoln and Lyman Moore middle school students will attend.

The Expo will conclude at Talbot Community School on Friday, April 11, when that school hosts students in grades 3-5 from across the city.

The all-elementary-school STEM Expo was introduced last year and was so successful it has been brought back this year, said Tina Mikkelsen and Kathy Cole, who co-organize the event on behalf of PPS each year, with aid from EnviroLogix. “This event supports the next gen science curriculum that we are using in our elementary schools,” they explained. “Exhibitors have been selected based on the topics of the science curriculum and teachers’ requests.”

The Portland Public Schools is very grateful to EnviroLogix, a Portland-based company that develops and manufactures innovative detection technology for every link in the worldwide food production chain, for their steadfast sponsorship of the annual STEM Expo.

The Portland Public Schools is Maine’s largest school district, with nearly 6,500 students, and it’s also the most diverse. About one-third of the district’s students come from homes where languages other than English are spoken—a total of 59 languages. Approximately 47 percent of the district’s students are white and 53 percent are students of color. More than half of all PPS students are economically disadvantaged.