PANAMA CITY — The AT&T Foundation presented a $50,000 contribution to the Florida State University Panama City STEM Institute on Wednesday as an investment in increasing interest among K-12 students in science, technology, engineering and math.
“It’s that hook to get students interested in STEM,” said Ray Walker, regional director for AT&T Florida. “The investment is well spent because those jobs are growing tremendously.”
Steve Leach, interim dean at FSU Panama City, said 267,000 people are employed in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — industries in the state, and 411,000 workers will be needed by 2018. The institute applied for funding in hopes of producing more young people interested in those disciplines.
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Ginger Littleton, director of the institute and a Bay District School Board member, said the district doesn’t have resources to pad STEM education.
Leach echoed Littleton’s concern, saying there is constant pressure to cut support for programs at the college level, so donations from businesses are vital to helping higher education institutions churn out students with skills in demand by employers.
“I cannot say thank you enough,” Littleton said to the foundation. “You know it takes a village to educate a child.”
The institute gets its undergrads in on the village education model by having them teach the next generation of STEM students in summer camp programs.
“Middle school and elementary students seem to be more mesmerized by the technology,” said Cody Slaybaugh, a 19-year-old junior.
Slaybaugh and two other computer science majors, 19-year-old Emily Hennessy and 21-year-old Brandon Yates, were at the press conference to show benefactors how funding is used to spark interest for elementary, middle and high schoolers.
The group presented Sam E. Nole, a 23-inch tall programmable humanoid robot the institute acquired with other funding from AT&T Foundation. The robot is a tool for teaching and promoting STEM.
Littleton said part of the grant will be used to take Sam E. Nole on the road to meet with local businesses and conjure up more support for STEM programs. The robot also will visit classrooms in Bay District Schools and rural neighboring districts.
The institute strives to help public schools meet education standards aimed at making students more proficient and competitive with technology in the workplace.
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“For businesses, we want them to understand how donations like this can educate our students exponentially,” Littleton said.
With greater emphasis on technology-based learning, students are encouraged to take more responsibility for their education. That means students must be motivated to take more challenging classes in preparation for lucrative STEM careers.
“The easy translation is for K-12 to pay attention in math and science and not take the low-hanging fruit as far as courses go,” Littleton said.