News Release
STEM Career Launch for local school students March 11
March 9, 2009
Jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math fields are going unfilled because the number of students earning college degrees in these disciplines is not meeting current and future workforce demands.
For the third year in a row, Penn State Harrisburg is partnering with five area schools to foster awareness of those careers for 100 ninth graders on March 11.
Data from the College Board show the number of Pennsylvania high school students taking the SAT exam who have an intended college major in a science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) discipline is not meeting workforce and future needs. In 1999 and 2000, more than 17,000 high school seniors indicated an interest in a STEM major. That number slid to 15,500 in 2005 and was at 15,000 in 2008.
The STEM Career Launch, a comprehensive learning experience for students from Susquehanna Township, Central Dauphin East, Harrisburg, Steelton-Highspire, and Middletown Area high schools, includes career and education sessions with Penn State Harrisburg faculty and staff and professionals in the field.
Barbara Thompson, director of the sponsoring Penn State Multicultural Recruitment and Community Affairs Department, says, “The program is designed to expose and encourage high school students to understand course work and work requirements and to consider higher education in math and science related areas. We know that opportunities exist for which many students are underprepared and the STEM Career Launch is an effort to improve awareness. The event provides an educational experience through a combination of learning tools including lectures, teamwork activities, hands-on discovery, and mentoring.”
Penn State Harrisburg faculty, staff, and students serve as mentors in the program with professionals involved in STEM careers hosting 40-minute career sessions. Scheduled to
participate are: Dr. Robert Bonneau, Penn State College of Medicine; Ken Jones, Greenman-Pedersen Inc.; Dr. Darralyn Corbett, Concentra Medical Center; and Sheri Celtruda, The Hershey Company.
In addition to the STEM Career Launch, Penn State Harrisburg is committed to education and partnerships in the disciplines on a wide variety of fronts, including the region’s most comprehensive list of academic programs in engineering, technology, math, information and computer sciences, science, and teacher training.
Through a $1.3 million National Institutes of Health grant and in collaboration with the College of Medicine at Hershey, Penn State Harrisburg is a key player in a summer program which will introduce area high school students to careers in science while enhancing their teachers’ instructional abilities. And the Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science (CAIMS) located on campus is the most comprehensive educational outreach in the region. CAIMS contracts with and serves more than 30 school districts in the region and impacts 2,000 schoolteachers with a potential impact on 50,000 students. The institute provides a Resources Materials Center, a centralized support system for use of exemplary materials, programs, and resources for schools including curriculum consultation and alignment.