(October 2022, Lynn, MA) How can we prepare and inspire people in Massachusetts to pursue STEM careers that have the greatest potential for impact? That was the driving question behind Mass STEM Hub’s STEM Week Challenge this year, one that was posed to participating schools across the Greater Boston Area.
On October 21, over 500 students across 30 different schools headed to Roxbury Community College where they participated and competed in the STEM Week Challenge.
Out of the 500 students, KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate 12th graders, Dieuson Jean and Chidalu Aniekwenagbu, won 1st place! Along with the award, this resulted in KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate being awarded a $10,000 prize to put towards high school internships for STEM students.
The students in Allen Wang’s Principles of Engineering and Civil Engineering and Architecture classes had three weeks to work on this project. First, they had to reach out to and connect with a STEM professional and conduct an interview with them. Students used what they learned from their interviews with the STEM professional to create a trifold poster that displayed what they learned. Students then prepared to present their findings in front of judges at the showcase on Friday. A final component of the project was to create a multimedia aspect that also showed their findings. Students created everything from movies, PowerPoint presentations, and even TikToks.
The goal of the project was to inspire future generations of Massachusetts graduates to pursue a career in STEM, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.
STEM week is a hallmark of Project Based Learning, encouraging students to learn more about STEM through participating in a project each year. This project demonstrates some of the best aspects of a high-quality Project Based Learning design: a challenging question, authentic work, lots of student voice & choice, and a public product with feedback from folks outside of the classroom
Congratulations to ALL of our students, and to Dieuson and Chidalu for their 1st place win.
