Friends of S.T.E.A.M. rolling ahead with programs | Community - Garden City News

A Garden City-based nonprofit focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics has high hopes for partnerships and speakers to engage Garden City students this year by Rikki N. Massand, News and Education Writer, The Garden City News.

Garden City Friends of STEM was started in 2015 and is an active 501(c)3 nonprofit; this year the “A” was recently added to include the arts as in S.T.E.A.M.

The Friends’ founder and grants administrator is village resident Patricia Lynch. Matthew Wakeham is a Garden City resident, an experienced electrical engineer engineering, project consultant and factory automation engineer. In the community he is executive director of the Garden City Friends of STEAM.

At the organization’s meeting at the Garden City senior center on October 1, Wakeham spoke about the record number of sign-ups from this school year’s back-to-school nights in the district.

“We received pages and pages of parents’ signing up, especially from parents of students at the lower grade levels at Locust, Hemlock and Homestead schools. Accordingly, we had presented data from the World Economic Forum that states that 65% of students at primary schools are eventually going to work in jobs that do not exist yet. This aspect is an introduction to our discussions on technology and future applications,” he explained.

The Friends discussed a recent report produced by the Council on Foreign Relations covering “Innovations and National Security” and ways of America “keeping our edge” as emerging technology and strong S.T.E.M. programming for young students is necessary for long-term economic and national security...

Wakeham noted that in prior years, Computer Science participation was heavy in Garden City Middle School and Garden City High School, but some parents and the Garden City Friends of S.T.E.A.M. felt not enough had been done for lower grade levels and for girls to participate. He and his wife Tiffany met with Dr. Cannone and brought up the idea of a Garden City “Girls Who Code” chapter, and this year high school girls in the district plan on meeting with Dr. Melikian to discuss a Girls Who Code club.
With AP Computer Science taught by a woman, Diana Young, who also teaches Algebra 1 and 2, there is more leadership among women in technology in place in Garden City Schools. And both Lauren Maguire and Dr. Melikian serve as administrative role models in Computer Science and Technology.
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Source: Garden City News