![]() “Culture and career mentors are doing things like helping to develop a sense of professional identity,” Cole-Harmon said. Each had their own specific roles and responsibilities related to the success of the project and the overall program goals. The projects will be staffed by culture and career mentors, mentors and apprentices. “Understanding it’s the innovation and creativity that you bring to the scene that can solve a problem that has been plaguing us for a long time.” “A lot of the projects are concepts that have been studied before, but we want our team to learn that it’s the fundamental questions that can lead to revolutionary answers,” Cole-Harmon said. Students chosen for the program will get to see how they fit into STEM careers and understand how their cultural and everyday problem-solving experiences can serve as a foundation for their future success.įour projects were chosen and fleshed out by mentors for the Career STREAM teams to work on: building a cube satellite, creating a portable farming system and growing plants on Mars’ harsh, rocky surface. The team at STEM Academy built a marketing strategy tailored to reach students that were of a minority background, that possessed ties to STEM skill sets that they may have not previously realized.Īll student apprentices belonged to at least one of the following categories: race and ethnic minorities historically underrepresented in STEM, military-connected, students with disabilities, female learners, first-generation college students, students with English as a second language and students in rural or other Federal targeted outreach schools, such as Title 1 or high-need school district. “If we really want to build workforce diversity, we need to find a way to attract diverse candidates to this program,” Cole-Harmon said. With all of the steps taken to ensure participants are offered the tools to develop their STEM skill sets, this then poses the question: how will the Career STREAM Program add diversity to the STEM workforce? Students will use a program management system to accomplish tasks and meet deliverables.Ĭole-Harmon and her team have set up regional sites - at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the University of New Mexico - where high school students can work with collegiate mentors on a STEM-related project to collaboratively research and develop an innovative idea, all while earning a paycheck. The program will not only teach students basic STEM tools to use while working on their projects, but it will also implement project management tools to give participants a feel for what they will see when they enter the workforce. “We wanted to complete the puzzle of STEM outreach that STEM Academy has been building - we have great programs for elementary age students, but we wanted to fill the missing piece for high-school-age students,” Cole-Harmon said. ![]() After vetting and review against other competing national organizations, STEM Academy received the award. The AFRL STEM outreach program, STEM Academy, sent out a bid to build their Career STREAM Program, which provides a curriculum that combines science, technology, reading & writing, engineering, art and math. The call offered up to three years of funding with the goal of building the future workforce with a focus on highlighting DOD modernization priorities. In November 2020 NDEP sent out an internal call for funding to government organizations. They’ve had struggles similar to what I’ve had.’ It’s a matter of reaching into the untapped pool of the STEM workforce and showing them that they have a place here too.” ![]() “We wanted them to see that, ‘Wow, these are people just like me. “We wanted to bring students that grew up in rural parts of New Mexico - who maybe thought that college wasn’t for them - onto college campuses,” STEM Academy Director Ronda Cole-Harmon said. The NDEP is a DOD-funded organization that provides assistance and opportunities for organizations with DOD ties to conduct innovative endeavors that promote the growth of STEM and biotechnology education. (AFRL) -The National Defense Education Program awarded funding to the Air Force Research Laboratory’s STEM Academy to bring life to a program that hopes to increase diversity in the science, technology, engineering and math workforce.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |