Clear Lake Intermediate added aviation and aerospace courses for the 2026-27 school year. The campus is one of four Clear Creek ISD intermediate schools offering the district's STREAM of Innovation program, which connects middle schoolers to career-focused coursework before high school.

STREAM stands for space, technology, robotics, engineering, arts and medicine. The program launched at Space Center Intermediate in late February 2025 with an engineering focus. Three more schools joined for the 2026-27 school year: Clear Lake Intermediate (aviation and aerospace), Clear Creek Intermediate (creative thinking strategies) and Victory Lakes Intermediate (medical science), Community Impact reported.

For Clear Lake area families, the expansion means students at Clear Lake Intermediate can take an aviation and aerospace elective in seventh grade and a high school-level course in unmanned aerial vehicles. At Space Center Intermediate, eighth graders who complete an Engineering Essentials course enter high school already placed in a second-year engineering class.

"So as a freshman, they're going to be sitting in a year two engineering course," Space Center Intermediate Principal James Dinardo said. "They're able to take it really far."

Each campus follows a three-year progression. Sixth graders take a "launch" course covering executive functioning skills and career overviews tailored to their school's specialty. Seventh graders can choose a themed elective, and eighth graders can earn high school credit or complete a capstone project.

Laura Mackay, CCISD's innovative programs coordinator, told Community Impact the expansion fills a need at the intermediate level.

"The state is seeing that we have a lot in elementary and a lot in high school, but intermediate was sort of needing a little bit more," Mackay said.

The district's Career and Technical Education enrollment has grown by more than 36% over the past decade, according to a separate Community Impact report.

Two more campuses join in fall 2027. CCISD plans to add Bayside Intermediate and Creekside Intermediate to the program then, and a drone course is planned for Clear Lake Intermediate in the 2027-28 school year. By 2030, the district aims to offer STREAM programming at every intermediate campus, Mackay said.

Teacher committees and community partners are still deciding what career themes the remaining campuses will adopt.