Leah Fregulia, AZ I See It 12:04 p.m. MT Feb. 13, 2017

Many students at Arizona School for the Arts go on to study STEM-related subjects in college.(Photo: yvonnestewarthenderson, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

What does dancing in a production or playing music in front of an audience have to do with building a robot and finding ways to help solve the worlds problems?

The answer everything! They are all part of our students experience at Arizona School for the Arts, and each of these activities contributes to their success.

Located in the heart of the downtown arts community, ASA is a Phoenix public charter school that offers 5th- through 12th-grade students an education concentrated on college preparation informed by the performing arts.

Leah Fregulia(Photo: Leah Fregulia)

At ASA, our students are immersed in 2.5 hours of arts education every day in addition to rigorous academics, including areas of study and clubs focused in the STEM fields.This unique educational approach results in students who not only excel academically, but who are also enriched by the arts.

An example of this can be in found in our Robotics Club, which recently sent teams to compete in the Arizona State FIRST LEGO League Challenge, hosted by the Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. The competition aims to challenge young people to think like scientists, and our students were sure up to the challenge.

Our all-girl Bee Inspired Team was one of only two teams out of the 96 competing that were selected to advance to the national competition.On April 19, our eighth-graders Amelia Luadtke, Emma Scully and Molly Moody along with sixth-graders Marissa De La Rosa and Imogen Dietz and fifth-graders MaeYa Kotter and Ava Dewallwill travel to the FIRST LEGO League World Festival in Houston to bring their robot and bee project to the national stage.

As part of their challenge, the girls developed and constructed using a laser cutter at CREATE at Arizona Science Center a special box in which bees can build hives during swarming season. The purpose of the box is to provide an attractive place for bees to live instead of forming hives in peoples homes, where they often must be exterminated.

Our team also built a robot out of Legos and programmed it to complete tasks. The judges awarded our team first place based on their innovative projects as well as their cooperation with competing teams.

Although it may come as a surprise to many that an all-girl group of arts students could achieve such success in robotics and science, for me, it comes as no surprise.

For many years, studies have shown an arts education to be a key component in contributing to a student's overall academic success. For example, students who participate in sustained arts programs for four or more years score an average of 100 points higher in math and reading on their SATs, according to one study. The arts also influence how our students approach problems with creative solutions.

Our students are not only thriving in STEM on campus, but they're choosing careers in the STEM fields, with 33 percent of our 2016 graduating class going into STEM-related areas of study in college.

At ASA, we are so proud of our Bee Inspired Team and the buzz they are generating about the potential for young people, particularly young women, to succeed in STEM areas. From their innovative ideas to their tenacity in bringing their project to fruition and their inclusiveness with one another and competitor teams, our Bee Inspired Team has inspired all of us!

Leah Fregulia is head of school/CEO for the Arizona School for the Arts.

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My Turn: Arts education paved the way for girls' robotics win - AZCentral.com