Open now for July 2018 SW STEM Updates

New STEM Year, New Regional STEM Board

M any thanks for many volunteer hours.

The Governor's Office has completed the Appointment Process for the six Regional STEM Advisory Boards. For the SW Regional Board, five members were re-appointed and two first-time appointees have joined the membership. The first meeting of the new year was held at the STEM Hub in Red Oak on July 24th.

Welcome new members Dr. Jason Plourde of the Green Hills AEA who replaces retired Chief Administrator Dr. Lane Plugge, and Business member Josh Shatava of Clarinda from H&H Trailer.

Re-appointed members include : Larry Johnson Workforce Development; Luann Langel, IKM-Manning CSD; Tom Lesan SWCC; Misty Gray Iowa Library Association; Kathy Somers, A.M. Cohron Concrete and Local Elected Official City of Atlantic and Kim Carter, IWCC.

The following members complete the 15-member panel :

Dr. Alan Ladd, ISU Extension; Gilbert Thomas, Bank Iowa, Economic Development; Heidi Lowthorp, Growing Healthy Families Program; Lisa Hilder, Poet Biorefining Corning; Dr. Jane Chaillie, Graceland University, James Holwegner, USAF ISRG, and Janell Leinen, Nishnabotna Valley REC.

Nothing Compares....

STEM at the State Fair - August 19th

BEST Application deadline nears...New On-Line Application

The 2018 STEM Best Application portal is now open for those looking at bolstering partnership efforts in growing the future workforce. Septermber 12th will be the fonal date for allpication paterials to be accepted. Details and instructions for use on the on-line application can be found at: IOWA STEM BEST PROGRAM

Welcome STEM in Action to Iowa Scale-Up

A new provider this year for the Scale-Up menu is STEM in Action from ETA Hand2Mind . Their products and professional development cover a wide range of elementary and middle school students in formal and informal settings. They will have 4 workshops in the SW Region during the training season.

Engineering Everywhere Joins the Menu

A third program from the Boston Science Museum has debuted in Iowa this summer. The Engineering Everywhere program, targeting middle school age groups, has been welcomed by formal and informal educators. The western Iowa training event was held in Atlantic on July25 with a wide mix of educators representing formal classrooms, libraries and ISU Extension personnel.

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Real World Externships hosted two educators in the SW STEM Region for something new and exciting that can be used to create excitement and real-world learning in their classrooms. Both educators were from SW Region middle Schools this year.

Thanks to Bill Mitchell and the team at Poet Biorefining in Coon Rapids for hosting Kim Subbert of the Audubon MS.

Thanks to the Henry Doorly Zoo for hosting Hannah Casey of the Lewis Central MS.

Both educators reported a sharp learning curve while working with welcoming hosts and teams of employees.