Drone Soccer and the Best Cities for Women in STEM/STEAM
The value and benefits of a career in a STEM field are well-known and well understood. Adding the “A” to STEM to create STEAM opens new doors for inclusivity, creativity and innovation in fields that are not conventially considered to be STEM careers.
What if we stopped asking kids “Are you good at math?” and instead asked “What are your interests and what are the problems that you would love to solve?”…
Drone Soccer
I am always on the lookout for ways to get more kids interested in STEM/STEAM and eSports have recently caught my attention. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of being introduced to the eSport of drone soccer by the team of middle schoolers at Colorado Skies Academy, the first middle school in the country to have a team and still one of only three middle school teams in the U.S. The kids build the drones, program the drones, fly them in competition and repair them when and if they fail or break during a tournament. I was instantly hooked! In case you aren’t familiar with drone soccer, here is a great video introduction from U.S. Drone Soccer and a video welcome to the U.S. Drone Soccer YouTube Channel.
Obviously, eSports are gaining in popularity and it is becoming more and more apparent that eSports are a legitimate and exciting pathway into a STEM/STEAM career. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have even included funding for eSports in a bill dedicated to support quality extracurricular programs for students from all backgrounds.
Botball
Along the same line, Botball caught my attention as well this week. It is too late to register a team for the 2022-2023 season, but there are still events remaining the year where you can see Botball in action in person.
STEM Signing Day
There is much excitement around the NFL draft this week and this time of year there is a lot of hoopla around college signing day for prospective high school athletes, but did you know that Boeing sponsors a STEM Signing Day for high school students committing to enter a college for studies in STEM? I love it!
Best U.S. Cities for Women in STEM
CommercialCafe has released its report on the 2023 Best U.S. Cities for Women Working in STEM. I am proud that my hometown of Denver is in the top 25!
Corporations Supporting STEM/STEAM
Highlighting corporate support for STEM/STEAM, Verizon’s Innovative Learning Program is 10 years old and it is the 22nd year for Collins Aerospace’s “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” global event.
STEM and the Arts
The Cleveland Museum of Art is demonstrating why STEM is vital to the preservation and conservation of art.
Resources
The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is an annual competition and program of year-long digital events that promote mentoring, scholarship and career pathways in STEM and STEAM.
The Enterprising Women Foundation is a non-profit organization created to support programming at the high school level to mentor, inspire and influence at-risk young women on a path to STEM/STEAM-related careers.
Happenings
The 2023 Sally Ride Science @ UC San Diego Women in Leadership event will be held on May 25, 2023.
And speaking of LEGO…
LEGO Stories of the Week
Okay, I wasn’t speaking of LEGO, but we will end this week’s newsletter with 2 more examples of the use of LEGO in STEM/STEAM.
Mecosta Elementary LEGO STEM Club
West Kellogsville Elementary Pilot LEGO Program
I am very excited about the valuable information and intriguing stories I will be bringing you in future newsletters. Want to make sure that you never miss a STEAM Rising? Subscribe below.
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you here next Friday!