Leveraging STEM for Social Change

“One of the reasons why I wanted to go on this trip is to see students of color and females, actually in leadership roles demonstrating what they know how to do.” -Dr. Gregory King, Tukwila School District & STEM Learning Tour Ambassador
 
From the Kitsap Peninsula, to the Puget Sound, the Yakima Valley and eastern Washington, the Washington STEM team travelled across the state to find out what's happening with STEM in communities all over the state. We visited the West Hills STEM Academy where teachers and administrators have made the commitment to incorporating STEM in to all they do. We talked with students at the University of Washington-Tacoma about increasing the diversity of students who enrolls and complete STEM degrees. We listened at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center as students talked about programming and sustainable energy projects for their communities. 
 
The common thread that we saw through our journeys was the high quality STEM education that was available to all of the students we talked to. With the the new school year upon us, we’re ready to get #BacktoSchool to give even more students in Washington great STEM opportunities like this, and we hope you are too.

What does STEM Teaching and Learning Look like in Action?

In the Spring of 2016 we travelled with 80 educators, administrators, community champions and non-profit leaders to take a close look at Common Core and Next Generation Science and the Future Ready skills students will need to succeed in a 21^st century world. We’re happy to announce that the experiences on the Washington STEM Learning Tours were captured and distilled into a two part video series.

For more information about the Washington STEM Learning Tours, visit our website.

Engineers & Educators – Building a Future for Every Washington Student

“With the work that I do, everything is an iterative process. There’s always this try, fail, repeat process.  And that's just life. If a future workforce came in with that understanding [of failure], that would be awesome.” -Michael Frank of McKinstry.
 
A big part of our ongoing work in engineering is with our innovative new initiative pilot, the Engineering Fellows Program.  Teachers, professional engineers, undergraduate and graduate students have all come together to create one-of-a-kind design challenges for 5^th graders in the Yakima Valley and South King County. 
 
These design challenges bring in the expertise of knowledgeable engineers that span the engineering world. These engineering design challenges are not only in-line with the Next Generation Science Standards, but they are rooted in the practices of highly knowledgeable experts in their respective fields. 
 
We sat down with these engineers from McKinstry and Coughlin, Porter and Lundeen to discuss what this process has been like for them and what impact this could have on the engineering world. Check out our blog to hear from them first hand!

ReImagining STEM

In a first-ever partnership, Washington STEM has teamed up with Getty Images and the UK organization, Your Life, to help update and reimagine what STEM looks like to girls, you women and students of color everywhere. In a world where science, technology, engineering and math are becoming more and more integrated into other areas, it’s more important than ever to show these the possibilities that a high quality STEM education can provide. 
 
Pamela Grossman, Getty Images’ Director of Visual Trends gave a talk about the power of images to break down gender stereotypes and encouraged consumers and creative alike to re-picture gender in STEM industries and beyond.
 
Getty Images is hosting a contest to tackle that challenge. You can read more about the ReImagining  STEM photo contest and the event that kicked it all off in our latest blog.

“So many girls, young women and people of color do not see themselves reflected in STEM careers. This campaign is a powerful step forward to allow all of these groups to expand their vision of what is possible and all people to understand and respect the contributions women have made and continue to make to STEM fields.” -Washington STEM CEO, Patrick D'Amelio

Links:

• Connect with us on Twitter
• Connect with us on Facebook

Meet Long Dinh, co-facilitator of Washington STEM’s Career Connected Learning Student Design Team. Long is a first generation Vietnamese American and the first in his family to graduate with a degree from college. What is the Career Connected Learning Student Design Team? We’ll get to that in a little bit.

Right now, let’s talk about Long’s experience in school. Like many students, Long wasn’t sure what careers were out there. In Long's words:

“When I started 9th grade, I had no real sense of what careers I might be interested in. Careers weren’t on my mind in early high school. In 10th grade, we went on the only company visit I can remember in all four years of high school. We went to a business headquarters where we saw lawyers working. All I could remember were white dull ceilings.

In 11th grade, I knew I had to get serious about some career. When I was little, I thought I wanted to become a landscaper like my father. After trying it out, I learned it was a tough, labor intensive job. I realized I wanted to try something else. I thought about becoming a business person. Sitting behind a desk all day with a secure and stable job sounded good. I didn’t really know what a business person did or how I would even get there. I had no exposure to any types of potential careers.

In 12th grade, my parents said it would make them happy if I got a high-end job such as an engineer, software developer, or doctor. I knew I had to go to college for these jobs, but I didn’t know how to get there. I applied to UW and SU but didn’t get in. My 2.5 GPA was not enough. And, to be honest, I had no idea the SATs were even required for college admission.”

This is pretty common among students in our state (especially for young people like Long). A recent Crosscut article published this rather bleak look at the future of a middle schooler interested in coding:

“You’re a middle school student in Washington, and you’ve decided that you’d like to eventually find a job in the state’s most common profession, software engineering… But by the time you’ve arrived in high school, you’ve never taken a computer science course. The high school you’re assigned to has no class on offer that covers basics like coding. Later, as a student at the University of Washington, you discover that you and many qualified, interested students can’t get into the computer science major because there’s not enough space.”

Thanks to your support, there’s a new strategy to give students access to careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Through the Career Connected Learning Initiative, Long and students like him are planning new ways for schools, community members, and businesses to give all kids access to secure, enjoyable jobs. Long and a cohort of five students are giving guidance on new strategies to increase student access to career opportunities through things like matching apps, career trainings, and mentoring nights. On the degree side, because of your investment in STEM, there’s growing connectivity between high schools and degree programs that lead to great jobs.

“While working on the Student Design Team, I realized I was the student this project was trying to reach. I was the end user. As I reflected on my journey through high school, I realized there were several “missed” opportunities along the way that could have steered me to think about a career and what classes I would need to take to prepare for higher education,” said Long. “Being involved with this project with Washington STEM has made me realize that I can help offer solutions, so that another high school student like me gets the chance to connect their interests and skills to a future career.”

With your support, missed opportunities are turning into new opportunities for students like Long. Want to learn more about the Career Connected Learning Initiative? Email Gilda Wheeler, Senior Program Officer, at gilda@washingtonstem.org.

The Washington STEM and Washington MESA Engineering Fellows program launched on July 12, 2016. This exciting new program will increase engineering education efforts throughout the state focusing on King County and the Yakima Valley. Please see below for more information.

Links:

• Career Connected Learning Initiative

• Engineering Fellows Program Launch (PDF)