HANCEVILLE, Ala. – This week, Wallace State Community College hosted local elementary school students for a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy and it was a great opportunity for the students to learn a variety of new skills. Over the course of the week campers spent time studying Plant Propagation, Fundamentals of Electric Vehicles, Engineering Technology, Natural Sciences, Math and Computer Science.
North Central Alabama STEM Ecosystem Coordinator Aubry Lovell was excited to work with the students and talked about the camp’s goals for the week.
“Every summer we have STEM camp for elementary and middle school kids and next year we’ll be adding a high school camp. Our purpose in doing these camps is to expose children to different kinds of STEM fields, STEM jobs and STEM ideas because one of our main goals is to enhance the workforce in Alabama. So, reaching kids at a young age can help fill those jobs in 15 years. A lot of kids don’t really understand what all STEM encompasses so part of our goal in doing this is to show more than just what they see in their classrooms at school, we want to expand on that,” Lovell said. “STEM camp is open to anyone in the state, not just Cullman County students. I think some people get confused about that, but STEM camp is open to anyone that fits into our age groups that we’re hosting at the time. We’re starting to expand out beyond Cullman County, and we would love to see more students from other counties coming and taking part in it too.”
Lovell discussed the benefits of younger students investing time in STEM education and how Wallace State can help them further their goals in those careers.
“Wallace is the first in the state to have a STEM Ecosystem and through that we really work to reach more kids and expose them to STEM so when they are old enough to come to college, they can choose a trade that we have. Or they can get their general education classes before going to a four-year university and then work in that field. We understand that education is important for kids and them being on our campus shows them what a college campus looks like and may make them more interested in what we have going on,” Lovell said. “It lets them know that all this is right in their backyard, and we’d love to have them as a fast-track student during high school or as a full-time student when they’re out of school. We just really want them to know that we want to invest in their lives. Whether it’s in a STEM field or not, we want to invest in them, support them and help train them so they can be productive citizens of our state.”
Even for the students that don’t end up choosing STEM careers, Lovell and her team believe the week of camp provides great life lessons that will help them in any field they work in.
“We understand that not every student is going to go into a STEM career and that’s ok,” Lovell said. “Being exposed to STEM teaches them some very valuable life skills like problem solving, thinking for themselves, thinking critically and learning how to face an issue and solve it through stages and steps. So even if a kid does not decide to work in a STEM field, they still learn very valuable life skills.”
Wallace State will host a Middle School camp the week of July 22-26. Students will participate in activities that include creating a Recycling Mural, visiting the WSCC Criminal Justic Crime Scene House (a team from WSCC recently won a gold medal in crime scene investigation at the National SkillsUSA competition), welding virtual reality simulation, and more.
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