STEM with the Saints
“When you seek truth, you seek God whether you know it or not.”
St. Augustine
Our Team
“Whenever you begin any good work you should first of all make a most pressing appeal to Christ our Lord to bring it to perfection.” -St. Benedict
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The above quote from St. Benedict was so impactful for Shannon and Christiane to begin this journey towards a faith-based, specifically Catholic oriented STEM education program. They actually began this project in 2018 when Shannon was a Physics student at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA. Two years later in 2020, Shannon and Christiane completed and copyrighted their first downloadable book of 52 STEM activities entitled:
Charting a New Course
STEM Experiments for the
Home and Classroom
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This book is currently being updated for the Catholic and faith based community and will be available for download in January 2025.
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Shannon Brindle, is originally from Mayfield, New York, a small upstate rural town. However, after the age of 9 she and her family embarked on a unique journey courtesy of the United States Air Force. Shannon is honored to have lived in: Grand Forks, ND; Wasilla, AK; Haughton, LA; Tacoma, WA; Fairfield, CT; Stafford, VA; Oklahoma City, OK and currently she resides near Omaha, Nebraska. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics (magna cum laude with departmental honors) from the University of Mary Washington and works as a Software Engineer. As a devout Catholic, Shannon's guiding force is & will always be the will of God. At every facet of her life she tries to honor, glorify and magnify all the gifts that God offers.
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Christiane Brindle, is from Northport, NY and mother to Shannon. Christiane and Shannon have truly embraced their military life and made every new location their home. When Shannon was 9, Christiane opted to homeschool Shannon in order to offer some educational stability. Additionally, Shannon was a very talented equestrian and the flexibility of homeschooling was priceless. Christiane graduated from Long Island University / C.W. Post with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication and Marketing (91') and she currently resides near Omaha, NE. ​
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Christiane Brindle and Shannon Brindle
THE HISTORY OF STEM with the Saints
How is anyone inspired to start a new project?
We feel it begins with identifying a need or gap in services and then choosing to become the person, or people, who want to fill that need. That is what STEM with the Saints is all about - filling a need.
In 2024, Physicist and Software Engineer, Shannon Brindle along with her mom, Christiane Brindle, identified a gap in STEM education. They noticed a faith-based STEM education within elementary (public and home based) school community is difficult locate, access and develop. Additionally, they recognized that faith-based STEM educational materials to assist parents in the home were nearly nonexistent. With faithful support and a little creativity there is no reason why the STEM fields cannot be introduced, taught, and encouraged within a school or home based setting.
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That is where STEM with the Saints begins.​
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A unique quality that every scientist, engineer and mathematician shares is the ability to ask questions. With that said, nobody asks more questions than children! Therefore, it is our belief that children are natural born STEM students and it is our hope that
STEM with the Saints will assist students, parents, teachers, and caregivers in nurturing that wondrous curiosity.
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STEM with the Saints simply provides Catholic oriented STEM information, activities, and experiments for students interested in the STEM fields. More importantly, these activities do not require fancy equipment, membership, or the purchase of expensive supplies. On the contrary, STEM with the Saints explores our everyday activities and then demonstrates exactly how those activities fit into one of the STEM fields. For example, STEM with the Saints answers questions such as:
- When you twist a lid off of a jar, why does the lid move up?
- Can you measure the amount of square feet in a room?
- Can you build your own balance?
- Can you make glasses "sing"?
- Why do circle wheels work better than square wheels on a bicycle?
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Every STEM with the Saints activity includes the following: A "Problem Question" to be explored; Encourages the development of a Hypothesis; Outlines the experiment with instructions and corresponding pictures; Provides a post Q&A opportunity that includes an explanation section for parents, caregivers, and teachers. Additionally there are expansion sections that assist adults by challenging and encouraging their budding STEM student to explore their area of interest even further all while providing nurturing support. The goal of STEM with the Saints is to harness the STEM of everyday activities and demonstrate to children that they're currently living in, surrounded by and utilizing science, technology, engineering and math; all they need to do - is ask questions.​
For all of us at STEM with the Saints, we hope that you can bear witness to the beauty and wonder of God through the experiments, the activities and of course... the Saints. Enjoy and may the peace of the Lord be with you always.
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Ways that you can help
STEM Ed in your Community
There are so many ways you can help STEM with the Saints; all you have to do is seek and you will find.
First and foremost, you must always search for the truth. As St. Teresa Benedicta states, “When you seek truth, you seek God whether you know it or not.”
This is our guide at STEM with the Saints; if you make it yours as well - you will take the first step towards helping STEM education in your community.
Next, look for the gaps in services or unique opportunities in your communities. Here at STEM with the Saints we try not to duplicate programs; rather we try to compliment what already exists. Try to compliment not compete - all of us want the same thing; to bring: truth, honest, faithful STEM education into our lives.​
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Are you a student?
- Volunteer as a Peer Tutor at your school.
-Develop an experiment and submit it to STEM with the Saints. You might even see your experiment on our website!
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​Are you a parent?
- Donate a copy of STEM with the Saints Charting a New Course to a local library, community organization, police department or juvenile detention center.
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​Are you an educator?
Inspire your students to create STEM experiments at home that can be reused in the classroom. We are always looking for new and innovative ways to learn about everyday items.
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​Are you a business?
Print and donate copies of
STEM with the Saints
Charting a New Course
to a school or organization in your community.
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There are so many way that you can make a difference in STEM education, all you have to do is start with prayer and listen for God's voice - He is always there to help.
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