Jason and Meghan Lang pass the STEM Teacher Externships Program torch after 14 years of leading the growing program.

Passing the STEM Externships Leadership Torch

What began fourteen years ago with a few brave teachers crossing the threshold into businesses for summer immersion has blossomed into one of Iowa’s most effective educator-employer partnerships.

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Business and industry partners have helped grow and develop the next generation of high-demand workers through the STEM Teacher Externships Program.

Call for Employer-Hosts for Summer Teacher

Each summer, the STEM Council matches some of Iowa’s most talented STEM educators with Workplace Hosts and helps build partnerships that enhance the workplace and the community’s future workforce. The STEM Teacher Externships Program builds bridges between Iowa workplaces and schools by equipping teachers with work experiences directly connected to classroom content.

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2022 Computer Science Education Week

Explore, Play, Create During Computer Science Education Week

Computer science opens worlds of opportunity for young Iowans to improve how they work and live. Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) takes place December 5-11, 2022, and is an annual call to action to provide American youth with resources to learn more about computer science, explore the opportunities that exist and encourage participation in computer science education. 

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Iowa STEM Council Corporate Partners

STEM Corporate Partners Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce

Preparing Iowa’s youth with the STEM skills necessary to sustain the future of our workforce depends heavily on our educational system and the commitment of corporate partners. Our STEM Council public and private partnerships help voice the workforce needs of business and industry leaders across the state.

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Iowa Waste Exchange was one of many exhibitors at the Northeast Iowa STEM Festival held in Manchester, Iowa, who engaged local youth and community members in hands-on STEM activities.

Inspiring Communities in STEM

From medical and flight simulations to virtual welding and robotics, community STEM Festivals provide fun learning experiences for all ages. Held throughout the year in each of the six STEM regions, STEM Festivals feature businesses and educational organizations local to the communities in which they are held.

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The STEM Advisory Council works together to advise and guide the state’s edu-nomic quest of inspiring Iowa’s youth to be innovative and enterprising contributors to our future workforce.

STEM Advisory Council Welcomes New Members

Governor Kim Reynolds recently appointed four new members to join the STEM Advisory Council, including Thomas Dodds, Site Manager at BASF; Michelle Hill, Director of Work-Based Learning at Waukee APEX; Sara Lang, Senior Director of Engineering at Collins Aerospace; and Leah Rodenberg, Senior Program Manager at Alliant Energy.

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Students of No Boundaries Middle School (NOBOMS), a STEM BEST Program, assemble furniture for their room redesign.

STEM BEST = Work-Based Learning

Work-based learning is a phrase coined by the U.S. Department of Labor to label learning experiences for students in a workplace setting. The STEM BEST Program is one of many work-based learning, or what STEM leaders call career-linked learning, opportunities available through the STEM Council.

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Teachers participated in Scale-Up Program professional development with Iowa Leadership in Engineering Design (ILED) over the summer.

STEM Program Providers Scale Up

Each year, the STEM Council seeks to provide top STEM education opportunities to all learners. With the intent to seed, jumpstart or expand little-known and exemplary programs proven to inspire and educate PreK-12 students, the STEM Scale-Up Program selects outstanding STEM programs through a rigorous review process.

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NASA Astronaut Colonel Raja Chari shared future-ready guidance to Iowans at the 2022 Future Ready Iowa Summit in Des Moines.

Future Ready Iowa Summit - All Options on the Table

More than 600 Iowans registered for the 2022 Future Ready Iowa Summit – All Options on the Table to ask and to answer the most challenging questions facing our edu-nomic future.

“It’s our job to push our educational innovation to new heights,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said in her opening remarks as she encouraged all participants to take one idea from the Summit and put it into action.

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The STEM BEST + HD Program application opens October 3.

Students to Develop High-Demand Skills with STEM BEST + HD Program

The application period is quickly approaching for the STEM BEST + HD (High-Demand) Program. Beginning October 3, public and non-public K-12 school districts and school buildings can submit an application to launch or expand a business partnership model to provide students with career-linked learning experiences.

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