Essentia Health has announced a $25,000 gift to STARBASE Minnesota-Duluth to support its capital campaign.
Tonya Loken, Community Relations Manager shared, “Essentia Health is proud to support STARBASE and their dedication to developing health care workers of the future. We are committed to partnering with organizations like STARBASE to provide equitable access for ALL children to STEM education across our region. We are rooted in our values and we hope this partnership inspires youth from diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in the fields of science and technology.”
“The synergy between the visions of STARBASE Minnesota-Duluth and Essentia Health is so energizing and such a perfect match when it comes to STEM, education, quality and innovation. Students from around Northern Minnesota participating in the program today will be the medical professionals of Essentia in the future and that is very exciting to think about,” says Charity Johnson, STARBASE Minnesota-Duluth Director.
Headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, Essentia Health prides itself on being an engaged community steward, a commitment that dates to the founding of St. Mary’s hospital in 1892. Since then, Essentia Health has thoughtfully supported more than 1,500 community organizations to make a healthy difference in people’s lives.
STARBASE Minnesota is a nonprofit education organization that delivers STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum to area fifth graders. In September of 2020, STARBASE opened the doors in its brand-new and state-of-the-art facility to accommodate a greater number of youth from around the region. The expansion provided four dedicated classrooms equipped with a variety of technologies that will enable the program to serve more than 2,300 students annually. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, STARBASE was able to safely offer its program to over 1,100 area students ranging from Moose Lake all the way to International Falls.
Offering a hands-on, technology-rich program free of charge to every 5th grade student in the region is a core part of the STARBASE mission, focusing on populations of students who are often underrepresented and underserved in the area of STEM education.
STARBASE Minnesota-Duluth opened its doors in 2017 and is a program of the Department of Defense and Minnesota National Guard. Its free, hands-on STEM curriculum aligns with state and national standards. Students spend 25 hours across five days on-site with their class focusing on real-world problem solving and applications using cutting-edge technologies. Since 2017 more than 4,500 students have attended STARBASE.
