According to the STEM Education Coalition, “our nation’s future economic prosperity is closely linked with student success in the STEM fields.”
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College recognizes this, and is committed to helping students make strides in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
“The United States has been experiencing a steady decline in STEM professionals for two decades,” said Paul Sturgeon, division chair of physical sciences and related technologies at ECTC. “That is why in 2013 ECTC began a coordinated effort to educate its service area on the need for STEM professionals.”
ECTC offers a variety of programs for STEM students, including transfer agreements and opportunities with the University of Kentucky College of Engineering and Western Kentucky University chemistry and Information Technology departments, among others, Sturgeon said. For example, if students graduate from ECTC with an associate in arts or associate of science degrees and have maintained 3.5 grade point averages, they can attend UK paying the same tuition they paid at ECTC, he said. Also, ECTC students can gain research experience in certain STEM fields, such as biology and chemistry, whereas such opportunities typically only are available to upper-level students at four-year universities.
In addition to showcasing ECTC’s STEM-related degree and certificate offerings, the college’s STEM initiative also has included an awareness campaign, lectures, activities and scholarships for ECTC students, Sturgeon said. This year alone, 13 scholarships have been awarded to qualifying students who are pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering or math at ECTC.
“The scholarship component of our STEM initiative is called STEM STARS,” Sturgeon said. STARS stands for Students Transferring and Achieving Repeated Success. These scholarships encourage students to study STEM disciplines by offering rewards for academic achievement. This year, nine students with high academic achievement have been awarded scholarships through this endeavor.
Four ECTC students were awarded STEM scholarships through the Peden Endowment, which was established in 2007 by the estate of the late Kennard and Melva Peden of Elizabethtown to support ECTC students and professors to further educational pursuits. This scholarship provides a chance to accelerate time to degree by giving qualified students the opportunity to take more than 12 hours of classes at no extra cost.
“Data indicates that students in STEM fields perform better if they take a heavier course load each semester,” Sturgeon said. “The ‘above 12’ scholarship is intended to encourage and facilitate that behavior.”
For James McNeil, a student from Meade County, it has done just that. “This scholarship means I have one less class to worry about paying for,” McNeil said. “I’m relying on financial aid, and this frees up some money for books.”
In addition to the scholarship component of ECTC’s STEM initiative, the college also has launched an awareness campaign known as LEAF-STEM, or Lectures and Exploration Activities For STEM. “We hope to educate our service area to the needs and opportunities related to STEM,” Sturgeon said. “We also hope to use this as a springboard to forge partnerships with the school systems in our service area, with business and industry who will benefit from an increase in the STEM workforce, and with four-year institutions to which our students may transfer.”
The LEAF-STEM series is ongoing. Past speakers at the college include astronaut Story Musgrave, 2013; and recently Plazi Ricklin, an engineer and project manager for eSolar in California and alumnus of ECTC. The series also has scheduled noted author, science historian and philosophy professor Laura Snyder to speak in January.
“We hope to expand to providing partnerships between our science departments and the science departments in the public schools in our service area,” Sturgeon said.
“STEM education is important to furthering our country’s global influence,” Sturgeon said. “STEM professionals are needed, STEM education is attainable, and it can begin at ECTC.”