Here at STARBASE Minnesota, we don’t stop at teaching students STEM, we show them how they can use it in their real lives and future careers. Enter our STEM at Work events, a collaboration between STARBASE Minnesota and STEM industry corporate partners, with the goal of introducing students to local STEM professionals and acquainting these companies with their potential future employees. The students are constantly surprised by how applicable these professions are to their day-to-day lives, saying “STEM is not just stuff in school!”
In energetic, 8-minute demonstrations, students are drawn in by the hands-on experiences provided by scientist and engineer volunteers. Students are part of the action; building polymers, petting cockroaches, taking apart jet engines, testing blood samples and so much more. Students are consistently amazed at the breadth of STEM careers on display. By putting a name and a face to job titles that they have heard before, not only do they better understand the work these companies do and how important it is to our society, but they can really see themselves in these positions. As one student exclaimed, “This was so cool! I hope I can have this experience some day!”
STARBASE instructors consistently find that students have an innate desire to help people, and these events allow them to see the incredible work that STEM industry partners do to improve the world, from taking us across the sky, to keeping our hearts beating, to making sure the lights stay on. One student stated, “It was so cool to meet some of the people that work to improve our lives” and “I like that you all help others with what you do.”
Events on Feburary 2nd, March 7th and March 14th inspired students from various Twin Cities schools, and the event upcoming on March 28th will surely do the same. These events would not be possible without engaging, enthusiastic volunteers from Abbott, BAE Systems, Boston Scientific, Collins Aerospace, Cummins, Delta Air Lines, Ecolab, Endeavor Air, nVent, Pentair, Medtronic, Microsoft, Seagate, Stratasys, Toro, and Xcel Energy.
If you would like to get involved, please visit:
http://www.starbasemn.org/volunteers/scientists-and-engineers/