Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

New Resource Helps Elementary School Students Explore STEM Careers

  • 11/17/15

SkillsUSA has announced the release of a new resource that encourages high-school students to mentor younger students on possible career paths. Its Jump Into STEM! program provides tools and activities for SkillsUSA members to help elementary-age participants take part in interactive career experiences. Whether a younger student wants to be an architect or an electrician, a social media specialist or a computer programmer, an industrial designer or an airline pilot, there is information on a possible career for the future. With this groundbreaking new program, SkillsUSA members are bridging the gap between elementary-age students and careers related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The Jump Into STEM! curriculum provides 22 interactive sessions — two for each of 11 different career clusters — which identify the knowledge and training needed to pursue a specific career goal. During the sessions, SkillsUSA members introduce themselves, present an activity and share information on career clusters and occupations. Jump into STEM! is organized to make facilitation simple, with information that will engage participants in intentional learning, a persistent, continual process of making learning a goal in itself.

 “We are excited to bring this new resource into elementary schools because it helps shine a light on career and technical education in the community,” says Tim Lawrence, SkillsUSA executive director. “Jump Into STEM! allows students to begin having career conversations, and it could spark their interest in a specific career sooner. The program also gives our SkillsUSA members the opportunity to practice public speaking and facilitation skills, which helps in the development of both personal and workplace skills.”

The new program, sponsored by State Farm Insurance Companies, is launching through SkillsUSA’s 4,000 chapters nationwide. Any SkillsUSA chapter can use the resource, which has been provided to chapter advisors as part of membership. Elementary schools can contact their local SkillsUSA chapter to ask that the program be presented, either as a STEM career festival with rotating sessions, or as a series of sessions held on several different days.

Featured

  • Kimball International Releases Curated Design Support Program

    Commercial furnishings company Kimball International recently announced the launch of a new end-to-end design support program, DesignSuite. According to a news release, its goal is to guide architecture & design professionals and dealer partners through the process from vision to specification.

  • Northeastern University Breaks Ground on New Housing Community

    Northeastern University recently announced the groundbreaking of a new student housing community on its campus in Boston, Mass., according to a news release. The university is partnering with American Campus Communities (ACC) for development of the project, which will have the capacity for 1,200 students and has a scheduled completion date of fall 2028.

  • Construction Begins on New University Research Vessel

    Boat-building company All American Marine recently announced that it has begun construction on a new catamaran research vessel for the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in Port Aransas, Texas, according to a news release.

  • Massachusetts K–12 District Selects Architect for New Junior High

    Swansea Public Schools in Swansea, Mass., recently announced that it has selected Finegold Alexander Architects to design a new junior high school for the district, according to a news release. The firm will create the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design for Joseph Case Junior High School after a lengthy selection process by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).