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Updated: September 11, 2026 @ 9:15 pm

Academy for Science and Design
Students at ASD work in a classroom.
Students at Nashua’s Academy for Science and Design learn how STEM subjects fit into the real world. 

Academy for Science and Design
Academy for Science and Design
Students at ASD work in a classroom.
Students at Nashua’s Academy for Science and Design learn how STEM subjects fit into the real world. 
Nashua’s Academy of Science and Design is something of a diamond in the rough.
The 750 students who attend the public charter school focused on science, engineering, design and other STEM disciplines represent 35 countries across the world.
Attendance is free to every student in New Hampshire.
“We’re just about to launch our 20th year of operations, so we’re excited to celebrate 20 years,” said Rick Bartle, board chair at ASD.
“We’ve been growing pretty rapidly over the last five years or so,” Bartle said.
And it’s easy to see why. Serving students in grades five through 12, ASD is recognized as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and received New Hampshire’s top rank by U.S. News & World Report.
“Our recognition nationally and locally speaks for itself,” Bartle said.
Since 2007, ASD has worked to prepare students for college and careers in the realm of science and technology, and it reports that 100% of its graduates attend four-year colleges.
“I think that this program is unique,” Bartle said.
In their middle school years, students learn about STEM broadly, investigating fields including aerospace, computer science, engineering, environmental science, chemistry, physics and biology.
Students are encouraged to work hands-on, and classes are frequently instructed by professionals in industry.
In high school, students begin to foster a specialization in chosen STEM fields. They engage in advanced coursework, conduct research and learn how what they do in the classroom can be applied in real life.
“It’s incredibly important to me that New Hampshire retains a competitive advantage in this space,” Bartle said.
Bartle is an aerospace professional himself, and said when he graduated college he hadn’t collected any hands-on experience and realized how valuable an asset that would make a young professional.
“For us, foundationally, math and computer science are at the core of virtually every STEM career,” he said.
No matter what students choose to pursue in life, Bartle said, math and computer science are “universal skillsets transferable to any discipline.”
It’s the emphasis on exposing students to unique academic programming, grounded in the nitty-gritty of real life application, and the opportunities students have access to while at ASD that Bartle says makes the difference.
He said he’s particularly proud of their ability to offer unique programming to students, like courses in aviation and space science.
In one class, for example, students learn to design and build a spaceship capable of delivering a payload.
When Bartle first toured ASD, before becoming involved, he was introduced to a group of juniors who invented an application called “PickUp Patrol”, now widely used by school districts including in the one he sends his children to.
“They had me at that,” Bartle said. “I was shocked by the confidence of these young students.”
Bartle encouraged any student, or parent of a student, interested in STEM to go to events like Wicked STEM.
“Wicked STEM is a fantastic example of the space that is made to facilitate those a-ha moments,” he said.
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