STEM professionals encourage next generation of STEM workers through educational outreach. We are happy to have been a part of this event and to do everything that we can to encourage our youth and help teach them about sustainable energy.
While many students in Huntsville and surrounding areas are taking time off from their studies this summer, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math professionals helped administrators at a local summer enrichment program show students how summer downtime is a perfect opportunity to reinforce STEM.
Huntsville Center employees Erin Hamilton, Stacey Sapp and Juan Pace from the Engineering Directorate and Wesley Malone, Installation Support and Programs Management Directorate, acted as STEM mentors for kindergarten through eighth grade students in the Indian Creek Primitive Baptist Church Summer Enrichment Program June 19 and July 10, respectively.
Mentors helped students develop problem-solving skills with fun exercises and interactive design competitions. There were opportunities for students to generate drawings, choose fabrics, build a Corps tower, test solar panels and observe a windmill that is powered by the sun.
Indian Creek’s Summer Enrichment Program director Sarah Drake said she implemented the STEM platform for the students due to the Obama administration’s initiation of the Educate to Innovate Program in 2009, to make STEM learning a high priority — particularly to underrepresented populations. She said her goal is to find an innovative ways to introduce STEM activities to younger students and build on some of the concepts the older students have learned during the school year.
Full article available at www.army.mil
