Today marks national STEM Day for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
the Gearing Up 4 STEM Foundation say's it's important to spread the word on what STEM can do for kids in choosing a future career path.
Ultimately they want to get the word out about what STEM is all about to kids when their younger, so they can have more exposure to STEM in the classroom and have more career choices in the future.
Founder Leah Ochs says the idea of Gearing Up 4 STEM came to her when she would give presentations to kids about her own engineering job.
Leah Ochs, President & Founder of Gearing Up 4 STEM tells us "I decided I love talking to students about what I did as an engineer in the field, I'd come in and do career days and bring in 3D printers and show them what I use them for."
The foundation opens up applications for STEM teachers twice a year. All of the money comes from personal donations, they also look for grants and donations from STEM companies.
Ochs says "Right now a lot of it is board funded, as well as people that care about STEM education that give what they can, and we do the hard work of identifying the teachers and bringing it to the classroom."
Gearing Up 4 STEM has donated $2,000 to teachers in STEM already, and so far has impacted about 1,000 students.
Ochs mentions "Being able to multiply that effect and reach more and more students and get more kids into STEM careers and STEM curriculum is more than I can ask for."
Matt Harper, a STEM Teacher at Depoali Middle School says "STEM, we're really pushing to have as many kids as possible, it seems to be the class that everyone wants to go to."
Harper himself was awarded $250 this year, helping him buy new robots and snap circuits for his classes.
Ochs says "We really like to focus on programs where the technology is reusable like Matts classroom, it reaches about 480 kids a year with that money with 250 dollars."
Harper tells us "It's fun, I mean I get to play with robots, circuits and computers, I get to help them build their own games, I mean what else could I ask for as a teacher it's amazing."
Harper mentions, it's really important to have more computer programers and getting more women into the field.
Ochs says "I can go into a classroom and talk to 30 kids for maybe 15 minutes and that's one small impact, with gearing up for STEM 480 kids in the course of a year, is pretty fantastic."
Harper adds "And as we continue to advance, we need more and more kids pushing that technology and pushing that engineering."
If you're a STEM teacher and would like to apply to receive funding from gearing up for STEM, you can click the link provided: Gearing Up 4 STEM
