Northwest Iowa STEM Newsletter

November 2021

Mary Trent

NW Regional STEM Manager

Contact me at mtrent@iowalakes.edu

Northwest Regional Advisory Board Members

Tina Benton,

Sioux City

Ben Bouza,

Hawarden

Derek Brower, Orange City

Beth Bunkers, Primghar

Tyler Hahn,

Cherokee

Kiana Johnson, Primghar

Nancy McDowell, Sheldon

Jordan Menning, Rock Rapids

Faith Miller,

Carroll

Teresa Putnam, Hartley

Andrew Roelfs,

Sioux Center

Mary Skopec,

Spirit Lake

Brenda Welch, Meriden

Mark Zabawa, Spencer

Check out NW STEM Web Site!

https://www.iowalakes.edu/stem/

Northwest STEM Calendar

Stay up-to-date on all Northwest STEM regional opportunities and even a few statewide. Use this calendar to share your STEM events with others.

NW STEM Lending Resources

Check out the STEM lending library for educators and place your order online.

Don't forget to connect with NW STEM on social media as well!

Check us out on Facebook:

@NWSTEM Region

https://www.facebook.com/NWStemRegion/

@NWIowaSTEM

Invite a friend or colleague to sign up for this newsletter:

http://goo.gl/oPZmPP

Computer Science Week

Share your Events with Us!

Computer Science Week is December 6-10. In the NW Region, you can find some outstanding resources on our website here. You will find example events, lesson plans, and ideas on how to partner with area businesses during these events.

Be sure to share with us your plans and use the official hashtag: #CS4IA on social media!

Prizes will be awarded to those who share their events and lessons with NW STEM!

You can email me at mtrent@iowalakes.edu to enter. Don't miss out!

STEM BEST HD (High Demand)

Visit our website

NW STEM Advisory Board Tours

Wild Rose Casino, Emmetsburg

The NW STEM Advisory Council held their October board meeting on October 11, at the Iowa Lakes Community College Emmetsburg Campus.

Following the meeting, the members gathered at Wild Rose Casino in Emmetsburg for a tour of the facilities. The corporate office of the Wild Rose Casino is located in Des Moines, with casino locations in Clinton, Emmetsburg, and Jefferson. The Emmetsburg casino currently employs 115 people, down from 285 prior to COVID. While the casino floor, hotel and bar are currently open, the upper floor with banquet facilities and buffet location remains closed. Individuals looking for employment in the STEM field have plenty of opportunities: maintenance, hotel and restaurant management, marketing, security and IT.

As can be expected, security and IT divisions play important roles in meeting gaming rules and regulations. The casino offers live and electronic games, along with sports betting. Mounted cameras provide visual coverage of the casino floor at all times with a DCI agent housed on-site. The IT department is constantly working on data collection for state reporting as well as cybersecurity and anti-virus protection. They are linked to other entities world-wide to identify money laundering attempts. Due to the needs for additional IT employees, apprenticeship opportunities are being considered.

Area educators - this would be a great opportunity for completing a STEM Teacher Externship, specifically in the IT department, maintenance, hotel or restaurant management. If you know of any educators who would be interested in this great opportunity please let me know. The Externship program is 6 weeks during the summer with educators receiving $4800 and 3 graduate credits!

Link to STEM Teacher Externship Program

Congratulations to Work-Based Learning Districts!

Congratulations to the following schools for being awarded the Work-Based Learning District award of $5,500 to develop a District WBL Plan by August 9, 2022. These schools will become models/prototypes/examples for IA. Dept. of Education and STEM to share and display on our websites to encourage all Iowa districts to do their own.

Ankeny
Bondurant-Farrar
Boone
Clear Lake
Northeast
Pella
Spencer
Waterloo
Woodbine

Build My Future Collaboration

NW STEM exhibited at the Build My Future Collaboration in Sioux City on October 19. Build My Future Collaboration is being hosted by the Siouxland Construction Alliance, Home Builders Associations of Greater Siouxland & HBAI Education Corporation. Build My Future gives students the opportunity to have a day to work in the Construction Industry through an interactive showcase. The student activities will include educational displays, equipment operations and learning labs.

NW STEM Virtual Year Long Literature Festival & STEM Challenges

650 students are participating all ready! You can still register and participate in this year long festival! We have met our quota for kits that we can hand out, but you can still participate without the kits. You will have access to the recordings and activities that go along with it as well as a list of supplies you can collect. Most of the items are recyclables or household items. To register to receive access to the festival materials, click below.

Click Here to Register

Lawton-Bronson Preschool STEM Night

Preschool students and their families enjoyed a night of STEM at Lawton-Bronson Elementary on October 21. The preschool teachers and many volunteers showcased the STEM Scale-Up Programs that they have been awarded over the past few years. It was a chance for them to interact with the materials and learn more about the great learning happening at Lawton-Bronson. NW STEM also brought a few items from our checkout system for exploration. It was a great night of exploration!

NW STEM and the Governor's STEM Advisory Council have many FREE resources and amazing programs to offer our K-12 schools as well as our informal partners. Want to hear more about these? Sign up for a in person or virtual professional development session! Presentations can be flexible for the time allowed.

Let's get everyone on board with STEM in NW Iowa!

Click below to request a session.

Request a Session

Share your Scale-Up Story with Us!

Were you awarded a Scale-Up Program this year? If so, please share your story and pictures with us! We will share your story in our newsletters and social media. Invite me out to see the Scale-up Program in action!

Email: mtrent@iowalakes.edu

NW STEM Checkout System is Now OPEN!

NW STEM Checkout system has many great STEM Scale-Up Kits as well as other materials perfect for classrooms, homeschools, libraries, and after school groups! And the best part, everything is FREE!!

We utilize the AEA van system to make deliveries of all our kits. You can keep the kits as long as you need them and simply set them out for the AEA van to pick them up. It's as simple as that!

You can find a complete list of our items and check out form here:

https://www.iowalakes.edu/stem/stem-resources/.