BUFFALO, NY - The chattering of students and churning of 3D printers fills this lab space at Buffalo Manufacturing works. It’s a Saturday morning and these young minds don’t need to be doing anything educational, but this isn’t your ordinary make your own volcano contest either.
“We do workshops in inventive thinking workshops in maker spaces," said Michelle Kavanaugh, President of the WNY STEM Hub. "A number of workshops to help teachers to understand how to embed the engineering and design process.”
The WNY Stem Hub, a non-profit funded through the United Way and private donors, aims to put an emphasis on STEM education in the five counties that make up Western New York.
“We’ve grown very quickly," said Kavanaugh. "We provide a large number of services to a large number of organizations and individuals."
The region is seeing a boom in STEM related industries. Many districts have specific schools with a more cohesive STEM program than others but the state as a whole hasn’t instituted comprehensive K-12 STEM curriculum. That's an area that NYS Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said was vital for students to succeed.
“Even if they’re going to go into a four year university, and become an engineer with a specialty those things all being when kids are in elementary, middle and high school and we need to provide those opportunities for them,” said Elia.
The Western New York Stem Hub fills in the gaps while the state and private businesses work to figure out a path for students. The hub, which has no formal center like other states, holds contests to engage students in STEM related fields.
The Hub ensures that programs, events and contests are being offered in schools that are often left behind.
“We’re busy, we’re productive. We want to be that way," said Kavanaugh. "We have to make up for a lot of lost time because the world is tripping by us faster and faster and we need to catch up."
