New video series aims to get LI students excited about STEM careers
The Long Island STEM Hub, a volunteer effort to attract students to careers in science, technology engineering and mathematics, Tuesday formally launched a video series aimed at grades K-12.
The 10 “Full STEM Ahead Long Island” videos were funded by a $320,000 grant from New York’s Empire State Development, secured through the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council process.
Speaking at a kickoff event at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Ken White, Long Island STEM Hub co-steward, said the online videos and their accompanying curriculum materials let the program extend to schools all over Long Island.
“The idea was to create awareness,” he said, noting that a motorist on the Long Island Expressway would be blind to the thousands of high-tech jobs in enclaves like the Hauppauge Industrial Park and Brookhaven National Laboratory, where White is manager of educational programs. “These jobs are here.”
In his remarks, White said that college graduates from STEM programs are in high demand for jobs carrying higher pay than other segments of the economy.
The videos, to be posted monthly on listemhub.org, run roughly six to nine minutes and took almost a year to make.
The first video in the series, “Crushin’ It with Composites,” covers the manufacturing sector and zeroes in on Long Island makers of aerospace parts and custom surfboards. The video was nominated for a 2019 New York Emmy Award in the teen category.
Kahille Dorsinvil, an educator in Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Office of Educational Programs, acts as the moderator in the videos. Topics of upcoming videos include aviation and health care.
At Tuesday’s event Andrew Parton, president of the Cradle of Aviation, was recognized as the third Long Island STEM Hub co-steward, joining White and Cheryl Davidson, senior director, workforce readiness at Northwell Health.
Also appearing at the event were John Cameron Jr., managing partner at Woodbury-based Cameron Engineering; Cara Longworth, regional director of Empire State Development, and students from Westbury High School.
Long Island STEM Hub, founded in 2011, is one of 10 within the Empire State STEM Learning Network.
Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.
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Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
