Cedar Falls, Iowa — A prototype business and school partnership in Rock Valley has become a model for more such partnerships, proposals for which are being accepted now.
The Iowa Governor’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Advisory Council is now inviting proposals from school-business partnerships across the state to compete for 15 Iowa STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) awards.
The STEM advisory council says that STEM BEST drives community collaborations where schools work together with local employers to create work-based learning experiences linked to local business and industry applications. STEM Council spokesperson Angel Mendez says that applied learning, once the sole domain of career and technical education, is now expanding to core mathematics, science, and technology education.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says that one way to grow the state’s workforce is to first expose students to the STEM careers available to them in the communities around them. She says that STEM BEST is all about students, teachers, and businesses coming together to work on projects and find solutions to local issues, and in return, students gain career interests and employability skill sets before they even graduate high school.
Since 2014, the STEM Council has established 18 of these innovative models across Iowa, now serving as examples for other communities to follow. From rural schools, such as Rock Valley and IKM-Manning, to urban settings, including Davenport and Des Moines, current STEM BEST models represent a variety of business and industry sectors throughout Iowa.
The STEM Council invites communities across Iowa to submit their proposal to build a STEM BEST model at www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST/Proposal. Any Iowa K-12 private and public schools or school districts are eligible to apply. All 15 awarded applicants will receive $25,000 to be matched with local cost-share, each earning designation as an Iowa STEM BEST Partner. The application window will close on Friday, September 15, 2017, and recipients will be announced in late October.
To learn more about Iowa STEM BEST, you can visit www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST or register for “Fast-Track Iowa’s Future” Conference on June 21, 2017, where many of the current models will be showcased: www.IowaSTEM.gov/Fast-Track-Iowas-Future.
