Pasco County will have two more magnet STEM schools this fall.

The school district opened its first one in Land O’ Lakes last year. The district says a magnet STEM school is the number one thing parents have asked for.

Now two middle schools are getting makeovers to meet the demand. Bayonet Point and Centennial will become STEM magnet schools, joining Sanders Memorial Elementary, which was the first in the county.

"The STEM school kind of feeds science, technology, engineering, arts, and math into all their aspects of curriculum," Sanders Memorial Elementary Principal Jason Petry said.

Parents say this type of learning has stimulated their children.

"There are certain guidelines they have to follow every day of things they need to get done but they get to pick the order in which they do it, so it makes it a little more fun for them, I think, because they have control over their learning," parent Dee Dee Jefferson said.

Even the little ones like 6-year-old Lukah Bates will tell you they like it.

“There's a little library in my class and the pod I get to go in there and read, and I like my choices,” he said.

Applications for Sanders opened on the first of January. Nearly 700 are already in.

The application period for the two new STEM magnets opened Monday. As of Wednesday, there were 87 in for Bayonet and 60 for Centennial.

“One of the most asked questions that I get is, 'Where will my kids go after Sanders Memorial?' ” Petry said. “Now the answer is they are making magnet programs all over the county."

The district’s magnet committee is meeting this week to discuss how many students the new STEM magnet schools will accept.

The application period ends Jan. 31. Students will be selected by a randomized lottery. Those who are selected into a magnet school will be notified on Feb. 12.

To apply: www.pascoschools.org