Scaling STEM West Updates
It has been an exciting summer! STEM West has now extended its service area to include Region C Counties of McDowell, Rutherford, and Polk. This is in addition to: Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, and Lincoln Counties. The effort was made possible with Duke Energy Foundation and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) funding. A few highlights:
17 teachers were trained in project based learning (PBL) unit development and partnered with 12 STEM businesses from Alexander to Rutherford counties. Units will be implemented in the 2018-19 school year.
This summer's business partners were: Bemis, Adhezion Biomedical, City of Hickory, Caldwell UNC Health Care, City of Lenoir, Leviton, Fairfield, WestRock, Mission Health System, Baxter, ABB, Trelleborg, and the Town of Forest City
30 more Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS) clubs will be beginning this fall after a 4-day training this summer.
Over 500 parent/student contacts were made at the Morganton Historic Festival while sharing documents of STEM careers, salaries, and educational trajectories.
2 days of Code.org training was held with over 20 attendees learning "unplugged" activities and introduction to a Computer Science K-5 curriculum.
Welcome to an AmeriCorp VISTA, Carvan Rich, who is gathering STEM program information to create an asset map to better plan STEM West efforts.
Alexander County attended Smithsonian's Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) to create their 5-year science education strategic plan.
