HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah —
Hill’s STEM Outreach Program notched one other profitable occasion as about 1,000 highschool college students attended its sales space on the Nov. 7 Northern Utah STEM Expo.
The neighborhood occasion was a possibility for college students to have interaction with greater than 60 STEM-driven companies and higher-education establishments so they are going to have necessary info and background to make knowledgeable profession path selections.
Mark Erickson, the brand new STEM Outreach Program coordinator, stated it’s necessary for the STEM program to take part in native occasions to assist elevate consciousness of potential careers at Hill.
“STEM is necessary as a result of that’s the long run,” he stated. “Know-how goes to be an increasing number of ingrained in on a regular basis life and there might be an abundance of STEM alternatives within the coming years.”
Erickson, who grew to become the brand new program coordinator in July, oversees funding and execution of about 30 native packages. He coordinates with authorities and academic entities in Utah to make sure Hill’s STEM alternatives and desires are entrance and middle as Utah’s largest single-site employer.
Hill’s STEM outreach extends to all grade ranges and contains such packages as STARBASE, which educates 1,600 of the realm’s fifth grade college students annually, and the premier Air Pressure STEM program referred to as LEGACY, an apprenticeship-type program for college students age 11 by means of faculty commencement.
Erickson stated Hill Air Pressure Base hires a whole bunch of science, know-how, engineering and math professionals annually, making it important to create a recruitment pool by inspiring the subsequent era of STEM professionals by means of its schooling and mentoring packages.
“My major objective is to get children enthusiastic about STEM,” he stated. “I would like these younger college students to find out about what occurs at Hill and the fascinating jobs we’ve got right here. I would like these college students who’re involved in pursuing a STEM diploma to contemplate Hill as a spot to work.”
For the STEM Expo, he exhibited an A-10 cockpit borrowed from the Hill Aerospace Museum, in addition to a “recruiting robotic,” digital actuality, and 3D printing. He stated he’ll proceed to make enhancements to his displays to make sure they’re built-in to the precise workload at Hill.
“I would like it to be significant,” Erickson stated. “I’d wish to reveal to college students how we’re utilizing STEM on base. I’d wish to say, ‘Listed below are among the issues we’ve solved at Hill Air Pressure Base utilizing STEM.’”
Erickson graduated from the College of Utah with an engineering diploma in 2007. Earlier than taking up the place of STEM coordinator, Erickson labored for eight years as a software program engineer within the 309th Software program Engineering Group. He’s hoping he can use his information and expertise to take Hill’s STEM Outreach Program to the subsequent degree.
Discussion about this post