STEMpact2020, a citywide mentoring effort led by Wichita State University’s College of Engineering, has launched STEM All Stars, a speakers bureau providing science, technology, engineering and math professionals willing to speak to area classrooms and youth-serving organizations or serve as project mentors.

More than a dozen STEM professionals have already signed up – primarily engineers, coders and software developers.

Teachers and mentoring organizations can browse available speakers, and representatives of all STEM disciplines are encouraged to sign up to become a mentor.

The STEM All-Stars program was created this year to provide yet another avenue to engage STEM professionals. Since it began in 2014, STEMpact2020 has worked to match STEM professionals to existing volunteering and mentoring opportunities for groups such the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland and Kansas Big Brother Big Sisters, Wichita Public Schools and the Kansas State Science and Engineering Fair.

STEM professionals teach computer coding to children, serve as mentors for highs school senior projects, serve as coaches and judges for robotics competitions and science fairs, and host company-sponsored school science nights or lunch-and-learn lectures.
 

"When a kid is inspired, she grows up to accomplish great things."
– Derek Morgan
 

The STEM All Stars program is different in that it allows individual prospective volunteers to make themselves available on terms they set (time, audience, setting and frequency) and field and accept specific request at their own discretion. The program is ideally suited to teachers seeking guest speakers or STEM project mentors.

“So many STEM professionals would love to encourage students to pursue a STEM career, but don’t know where to begin,” said Alex Petersen, STEMpact2020 project coordinator. “This allows them an avenue to say, ‘I am ready and willing to help, just let me know when and how.’ Conversely, this allows teachers the opportunity to choose a willing STEM professional best suited to their classroom needs, creating a natural bridge between their education and its real-world application.”

An essential mission

To date, STEMpact2020 has engaged more than 150 STEM professionals representing 19 area companies in such activities.

Derek Morgan, a 1996 WSU aerospace engineering graduate who is a flight certification manager at the Federal Aviation Administration, said he became a STEM All Star to support STEMpact2020’s mission, which he considers essential to the community and beyond.

Morgan recently spoke to children participating in the Fairmount Go Zones program, a neighborhood drop-in program for school aged youth in Northeast Wichita. Morgan explained concepts behind flight and led students in an airplane design activity. He considers such volunteer work to be time well-spent.

“When a kid is inspired, she grows up to accomplish great things,” Morgan said. “Imagine a generation of children inspired and equipped to accomplish unimaginably great things.”

To learn more about STEMpact2020, go to STEMpact2020.org, call 316-978-3199 or contact STEMpact2020@wichita.edu.