STEM Day events inspire all ages to learn about potential careers
IOWA CITY, Iowa (CBS2/FOX28) — At the Johnson County Fair, local vendors, experts and researchers held exhibits demonstrating information on how STEM is used day-to-day in their field.
Students who attended got a hands-on, interactive experience at the different stations.
Experts shared how knowledge in science, tech, engineering and math can help solve today's biggest problems and how students can find STEM all around their community.
"Obviously school is out, but we can kind of get kids excited about learning from these STEM programs in the summer at an event that is normally attended by a lot of people in general," said Jacob Heiden, STEM Day Organizer.
"Every exhibitor here is going to be from the local community, so it show them how these STEM careers that are actually out in the community today are actually affecting their daily lives, and what they're doing to help their daily lives."
Women are a growing group in the STEM community, but still only a quarter of them are in the overall STEM workforce. At a separate event at the University of Iowa's Medical Education and Research Facility focused on getting high school students prepared for a career in health care as part of STEM education. Members of the Indian Hills Summer Program were taught how to clinically diagnose a patient and what the day-to-day life of a medical student was like.
Programs like both of these are essential to providing better insight with STEM careers.
