Northwest Iowa STEM Newsletter

May 2022

Mary Trent

NW Regional STEM Manager

Contact me at mtrent@iowalakes.edu

Northwest Regional Advisory Board Members

Tina Benton,

Sioux City

Ben Bouza,

Hawarden

Beth Bunkers, Primghar

Tyler Hahn,

Cherokee

Lex Jacobson,

Ida

Kiana Johnson, Primghar

Jordan Menning, Rock Rapids

Faith Miller,

Carroll

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

Tech Playground at Storm Lake Elementary

NW STEM and Prairie Lakes AEA hosted a Tech Playground for teachers at the new early childhood building in Storm Lake. Educators in grades PS-4 were able to explore and play with technology gadget, brainstorm ideas of ways to integrate the technology into their curriculum, and had tons of fun! Educators were able to check out materials at the training session to bring back to their classrooms for instant integration. We hope to host more of these next year as schools are working on integrating computer science into their curriculums.

NW STEM Board Tours St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll

The NW STEM Advisory Board held their May meeting at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll on May 16, 2022. A tour was provided of the facility showcasing on STEM careers and technology. Leading the tour were Trish Roberts, Foundation Director and Ed Smith, President and CEO. St Anthony’s developed a scholarship program 19 years ago and this year will award 35 scholarships to individuals within a seven county area. 303 scholarships have been awarded in the past 19 years for a total of $228,000. We plan to hold a Lunch and Learn for Carroll County on September 19 at St. Anthony Hospital to form education/business partnerships. We look forward to STEM partnerships in Carroll!

STEM Offers Educator Scholarships

The Executive Committee of the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council determined that two supports for STEM educators are needed in order to maintain the high quality and essential role of STEM education throughout the state:

Incentive for practicing STEM professionals to career transition to teaching.
Support for in-service STEM teachers to update their skills and knowledge in the fast-moving fields of STEM.

For STEM professionals seeking support to career-transition to teaching, access the RAPIL scholarship here:

STEM Pro -> STEM Teacher

For in-service STEM teachers seeking support to enroll in a course to update skills and knowledge, access the STEM-LIfT scholarship here:

STEM Teacher -> STEM "LIfT" Teacher

Thank you to NW STEM Educators

I just want to take a minute to thank all of the NW STEM educators. It has been another trying year and I know it has been difficult to balance your workload, emotional stress, and health issues. I just want to express my gratitude and amazement on your passion for STEM education and still going the extra mile to provide our students in the NW the very best educations! So, thank you and I hope you all have a restful summer! Mary Trent

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 Closed

for the summer

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 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/.