STEM program aims to inspire students in south Sound school districts

SEATTLE — A new $1.2 million grant is giving graduate students at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) the opportunity to introduce kids to STEM education at high schools and middle schools around south Puget Sound.

The grant comes from the National Science Foundation and funds PLU’s Culturally Sustaining STEM Teacher Program. PLU will award 21 scholarships to qualifying seniors and teacher candidates over the next five years, ideally to those looking to work locally, creating a pipeline of successful, diverse educators that feeds back into the area’s school districts.

Professor Wendy Gardiner, one of the educators behind the program, said the curriculum is critical.

“We’re really looking at making the STEM disciplines both relevant to children's lives and communities, to making sure that the content is academically rigorous and that children are able to see themselves as contributors of knowledge within the discipline,” said Gardiner.

Nic Celebrado teaches chemistry at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma and is one of the graduate students who is part of the program. Celebrado said he aims to make connections between real-world environmental and science issues to what’s going on in the student’s communities.

RELATED | Seattle tech leader says it's 'paramount' to close gender gap in STEM

“One of the things we did was when they heard the news about the chemical spill in Ohio, let's take a moment to stop what we're doing in our current unit and figure out the implications of this chemical spill and how does that impact our environment and community around it?” explained Celebrado.

The classroom consists of a diverse group of students all learning the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering and math.

PLU said some students have had trouble learning because of not having enough food on the table at home or having faced racist remarks and other prejudices. Celebrado and Gardiner said they hope the program inspires more students to look at careers in STEM as possible options.

“There's so many positions in the field, and when you look at the demographics of people in STEM, it's not representative of our country and often people with minority identities end up leaving pretty quickly,” said Gardiner.

RELATED | Federal investment in science, technology at Washington colleges help STEM students

In addition to the student teaching, Celebrado and the other PLU grad students participate in equity seminars and roundtables on diversity issues. The goal is to make sure the university continues to address barriers to education.

So far, students enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District, Tacoma Public Schools and Clover Park School District are all being exposed to Pacific Lutheran University’s STEM program.