Press Release
A-B Tech Small Business Center
The Mountain Satellite Office of The Science House of NC State University is pleased to announce that the year of ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) continues. The First Annual ESTEAM Conference for males will be on March 27th, 2014. Seventh grade boys from western North Carolina will be invited to participate in the event which will be held at The Science House, NC BioNetwork, and A-B Tech Small Business Center offices located on the A-BTech Enka Site.
The conference is designed to increase young men’s interest in ESTEAM careers by giving them an opportunity to interact with male role models in related fields. Attendees will participate in hands-on experiments and sessions lead by local male ESTEAM professionals, explore ESTEAM careers, hear from male speakers on their ESTEAM experiences in related fields, and take part in a professional ESTEAM conference on a college campus.
Middle schools (public, private, charter, and home-schools) from western North Carolina are eligible to participate in this event. This year groups will be selected using a lottery system, and a three year rotational system will be used after year one. For information on getting a group into the lottery or having a group of seventh grade boys participate in the ESTEAM conference, please contact Dr. Cowan at thcowan@ncsu.edu by January 20th, 2014.
A similar ESTEAM event for girls was held on September 10, 2014. The culminating event of the 2013-2014 year of ESTEAM will be the ESTEAM Expo on March 29, 2014 at the WNC Ag Center in Fletcher, NC. The free Expo event will be open to the public, and everyone in the community will be invited to participate. The purpose of the Expo will be to act as a pipeline for students and parents to experience the direct link between local ESTEAM opportunities for students and the educational track(s) that would make it possible for them to find their way into ESTEAM-related careers in Western North Carolina.
Taking the idea of STEM education a step further, ESTEAM events encourage and cultivate the creative and independent thinking that will motivate today’s youth toward becoming the next generation of STEM innovators and entrepreneurs.
Together the community can use “ESTEAM” to build confidence today for the careers of tomorrow for the students of western North Carolina.ESTEAM event coordinators are currently seeking volunteers and donations. It you are interested in volunteering during the conference please contact Laurie Rigg (lrigg@henderson.k12.nc.us). To make a donation (food, give-aways, etc.), please contact Nancy Waldrop (nswking@charter.net). ESTEAM Expo organizers plan to feature local ESTEAM-related businesses, non-profits, institutes of higher education, artisans, and youth service providers as vendors, and are reaching out to members of the community that are local examples of ESTEAM in action. For Expo vendor and/or sponsorship opportunities please contact Amber Baker, at abaker@ncbionetwork.org.
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