For forward-thinking employers, investing in STEM-based roles will be a big focus in the coming years. This learning platform is offering these
"How do we create a STEM movement so everybody sees themselves in STEM and understands the importance in our everyday lives?" says Jenny Buccos, co-founder and CEO of EXPLR. "That's where we come in, because of our digital expertise and a whole free digital companion, to get kids into the STEM pipeline."
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Founded in 2003, EXPLR is a subscription-based streaming video and curriculum service for individuals and classrooms that provides skills-based learning and development for students in grades 5-12, and global-based curriculum and professional development tools for teachers. This week, the platform is hosting its second annual National STEM Festival, which gives students a chance to showcase their work and connect with businesses and advisors who support STEM talent. The event is free, requiring only registration, and those who can't attend in person can take part in its
The festival is sponsored by some of the biggest global names in innovation, including Google, Nokia, Autodesk and Broadcom Foundation.
"Broadcom Foundation inspires young people to make the world a better place and to value the importance of sustainability through their STEM initiatives, especially as digital makers and computer scientists," says Paula Golden, president of the Broadcom Foundation, one of the co-presenting sponsors of this year's event. "Students who come to this festival, represent not only their passions, but those of the communities they represent."
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Participants design and submit projects based on given themes, which for this year included areas such as aerospace engineering, environmental stewardship, future food and health and medicine. It also included a more open-ended category, tech for good, which allowed them to create innovative tech solutions using AI, robotics and advanced networks that address issues such as racial bias and closing the digital divide.
Winners are invited to Washington to display their projects for attending professionals and attendees from the public. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with 95.2% reporting an increased motivation to pursue STEM education or as a career.
Showing students how to apply their skills to real-world work experience is a key tenant of the EXPLR experience, Buccos says. And students shouldn't be limited to jobs solely in the U.S. — the program places a high importance on exposing students to new global cultures, perspectives and issues through their training and education. These learnings will be critical as business continues to become more spread out and diverse, notes Buccos, whose outlook was inspired by her own experience working abroad after college.
"I had never been out of the country, or been surrounded by people who spoke a different language, had a different perspective," Buccos says. "I thought, how different every child's education would be if they could just be exposed to different lived experiences and perspectives. How can I create opportunities for kids like me to understand what the world is and what it could be?"
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EXPLR's videos cover a wide variety of topics in various formats, including subject lessons and global current events, as well as master classes led by top professionals from all over the world, from doctors and scientists to chefs and artists. Office hours with STEM professionals are also available. Along with gaining awareness and skill sets to help them think broadly and problem solve, the goal is also to help them develop empathy — something that will make them better leaders in the future. And the payoff for employers is a highly trained generation of potential talent.
"We live and work in a society where borders are fluid," Buccos says. "Just because you may work in a certain state and a certain part of a country doesn't mean that you don't have to see the global connections to your job."
