STEM Guiding Team

1. STEM Guiding Team

2. Natasha Smith-WalkerExecutive Director, Project Exploration • Project Exploration is a STEM education organization who since 1999 has worked to ensure communities and students traditionally overlooked by STEM have access to personalized OST STEM experiences. • Project Exploration seeks to gain a better understanding of state resources available to broaden participation, gain insights to support advocacy efforts and learn more about identifying legislative supports.

3. Brett NicholasManager Community Initiatives, Museum of Science & Industry • MSI partners with schools, community based organizations and libraries to support year round out-of-school time STEM learning. We provide curriculum, materials and professional development to reduce barriers so kids can have positive experiences with science. • MSI is interested in increasing access to quality out-of-school time STEM opportunities by expanding the reach of our programs geographically and working collaboratively to improve the quality of all programs, including our own.

4. Emily Cooper & Mark HarrisDirector of Programs, Illinois Science & Technology Institute • The Illinois Science & Technology Institute (ISTI) is a STEM-focused nonprofit that provides programs and partnerships to connect companies with classrooms. ISTI supports schools and companies who want to impact the next generation of innovators, to build a stronger, more inclusive talent pipeline in Illinois. We are a bridge between the classroom and real world that facilitates collaboration between students and industry mentors. I am lucky enough to be the Director of Programs at ISTI managing our two programs: STEM Challenges and Mentor Matching Engine. I hope to learn from this group to help us work together to improve STEM education in the state and beyond! • STEM Challenges are real-world projects that create opportunities for high school students to work alongside STEM professionals as mentors. Students and mentors from STEM Challenge industry partners collaborate over the course of six months to explore, create, and build innovative solutions. • Mentor Matching Engine is an online collaboration tool that links students and mentors anytime, anywhere – providing direct communication and structure for tracking of mentoring relationships at scale.

5. Curtis PeaceExecutive Director, Illinois AfterSchool Network (IAN) • The Illinois AfterSchool Network is an organization that provides statewide training and trainers in the afterschool space, including the area of STEM/STEAM • Would like a better understanding of statewide resources for providers in the area of STEM/STEAM, with a particular interest in central and downstate Illinois

6. Marcelo CaplanAssociate Professor, Columbia College Chicago • I am the developer of the OST STEAM programs NSF-Scientists for Tomorrow and Junior Research Scientists (www.scientistsfortomorrow.org) • I believe that OST education is not less important than formal education and therefore I am investing time and efforts to make OST STEAM education relevant. • I expect, working in this group to be able to promote serious STEAM education in the OST framework

7. Keith Jacobs4-H State STEM SPECIALIST, University of Illinois • Nation’s largest youth development organization • 6 M youth nation wide; 1 in 14 Illinois youth • Traditionally Agriculture based • Now more than 100 project categories • Offer SPIN clubs for niche/emerging interests • Culminating Competitions (e.g. State Robotics Competition) • STEM accounts for over 215k IL project enrollments • As STEM Specialist I provide statewide leadership for STEM Programing in each of Illinois’ 102 Counties • Curric Dev., Grant writing & Program Dev. • From this group, I would like to get a better understanding of OST around the state and contribute towards reaching more youth in communities and environments that could benefit the most from what we have to offer!

8. Emily RuscaDirector of State Policy & Strategy, Education Systems Center @ NIU • We support statewide policy and implementation of college & career pathways, including efforts impacting STEM fields. We also support Illinois’ participation in the NGA Work-Based Learning Policy Academy, which focuses on scaling WBL particularly in STEM fields. • I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the out of school landscape and how it can support student readiness for college and career.

9. Mike SandidgeTeen REACH Coordinator, Illinois Department of Human Services • The Teen REACH (Responsibility, Education, Achievement, Caring, & Hope) program provides positive youth activities during non-school hours. Through prevention-focused activities, Teen REACH programs expand the range of choices and opportunities that enable, empower, and encourage youth from ages 6 through 17 to achieve positive growth and development, improve expectations and capacities for future success, and avoid and/or reduce risk-taking behavior. • I would like to learn more about STEM and how to provide Teen REACH programs with access to quality STEM programming and activities.

10. Jill Edelblute & Ali GreenmanYMCA of Metropolitan Chicago • Camp and After School • Computer Discovery Camp with IIT • Makerspaces • Destination Imagination • Movie Maker Camp • E-Sports Workshops • MSI Partnership • Community Schools Initiative • Scientists For Tomorrow: Hands-on STEM program for middle school students through Columbia College • Junior Achievement: Financial literacy • University of Illinois Extension: 4-H Robotics and Incubation and Embryology for school classrooms • Destination Imagination • KidzScience

11. Michael HannanAlternative Schools Network (ASN) • Through extensive experience working with out-of-school youth populations, ASN has learned that the most significant factor in reducing dropouts is a whole-school/wraparound approach that includes alternative education opportunities which can produce a systemic change in how re-enrolled students approach their education. • ASN would like to learn how to tap into local resources in order to provide quality STEM programs focused on providing opportunities for the out-of-school youth population in Chicago.

12. Steve ParrottTechnology & Engineering Ed. Principal Consultant, Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) • Steve works with ISBE to promote college and career readiness through technology and engineering education. Steve is particularly interested in how to integrate STEM learning into any/all activities, as opposed to creating a STEM silo. • Steve shared the “Engineering by Design” curriculum • “Designing a curriculum that integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) principles while utilizing the engineering design process is critical (Business-Higher Education, 2011). The Engineering byDesign™ (EbD™) curriculum has been designed to attain this goal using methods that can be beneficial for all teachers to understand and use to develop student skills. The implementation and evaluation of this curriculum has provided assessment data that is valuable for increasing student success in technology and engineering education. • (PDF) Engineering by Design: Preparing Students For the 21st Century. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316368830_Engineering_by_Design_Preparing_Students_For_the_21st_Century

13. Additional Members Olga Gutierrez - Apple