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February 21, 2024
GREEN BAY — According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 67 million people were employed in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) professions in 2021 — representing 34.3% of the total workforce.
The bureau expects STEM employment to increase at more than twice the rate of non-STEM employment by 2031.
With these statistics in mind, Cassy Tefft de MuÒoz, executive director of the Center for Educational Outreach at Michigan Tech University (MTU), said it’s important to spark interest in STEM-related occupations in students at a young age.
Enter MTU’s Mind Trekkers roadshow.
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) — in partnership with MTU and NEWMA (Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance) — hosted the two-day roadshow earlier this month at its Green Bay campus, attracting more than 2,000 middle school students from across Wisconsin.
According to Tefft de MuÒoz, Mind Trekkers is a nationally acclaimed traveling STEM roadshow bringing hands-on STEM festivals to communities around the country.
He said Mind Trekkers has reached three million people and been in 18 states and two countries in its 15 years of existence.
Guided by Michigan Tech students, participants discovered firsthand the power of science through experimentation.
NWTC-hosted event
From being inside a bubble to skewering a balloon without popping it, to playing a piano made of bananas — Tefft de MuÒoz said Mind Trekkers brings communities together to support an educational ecosystem and strong future workforce in STEM.
“Our mission is to spark the curiosity in STEM,” she said. “We predominantly work with middle-school kids because, at that age, they don’t have many preconceived notions of what certain fields are. Often, when they get to high school, they have some blinders up — our goal is to reach students and present them with opportunities before they get to that point.”
Tefft de MuÒoz said Mind Trekkers “simply present the principles of STEM.”
This fire tornado was a good example of what students could learn about. Rich Palzewic Photo
“This is a community-friendly event — all of our events are given at no cost,” she said. “For us, we’re talking about base principles so when students get to high school, they can dive deeper into their interests.”
Though MTU, located in Houghton in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is probably best known for its four-year engineering degrees, Tefft de MuÒoz said that doesn’t mean Mind Trekkers doesn’t focus on technical colleges as well.
“This program is designed to help students find their paths — whether that’s a four-year or a technical college,” she said. “Our mission isn’t solely to have them go to a four-year college — or even Michigan Tech- It’s about connecting kids to opportunities. Most of our programs are hosted by colleges in Michigan or technical schools like NWTC in Wisconsin.”
The many exhibitors at NWTC, Tefft de MuÒoz said, were there on behalf of NEWMA.
“Most of the events we do — we travel all over the country — are a community open door where anyone can be here, whether you’re a nonprofit or a company or some other organization that serves youth,” she said. “Normally, we recruit some businesses to come in, but in this case, NEWMA coordinated all of that.”
Some of the exhibits specifically at the NWTC-hosted event included hands-only CPR, creating a fire tornado, seeing how an independent suspension on a vehicle compares to a solid axle, freezing vegetables with liquid nitrogen — and then letting kids smash them — and having students test their ergonomic power on a rowing machine.
“We came here to get kids more interested in science, learn a bit more and have fun,” Evelyn Phillips, Lombardi Middle School student and event participant, said. “I think maybe I have a future with something in math — I think I’m pretty good at it. Science and math go together. I enjoyed all the exhibits and had fun.”
More on NEWMA
Executive Director Ann Franz said NEWMA, one of the main partners of the Mind Trekkers program at NWTC, has been in existence for 18 years.
“Our organization has more than 370 members, with 250 of those being manufacturers in Northeast Wisconsin,” she said. “In manufacturing, there are so many STEM types of degrees. We want to get kids excited about STEM.”
Franz said NEWMA created a task force to help address the needs of manufacturers in Northeast Wisconsin.
“We asked, ‘how do we create an event that gets kids to experience STEM in a different way — fun and interactive?'” she said. “As we were looking at doing our own event, we found Mind Trekkers. They have years of experience, so we asked ourselves, ‘why do we need to recreate the wheel?’ It was a no-brainer to partner with Michigan Tech and NWTC for this event.”
This student participant prepares to smash a piece of tomato that was frozen in liquid nitrogen. Rich Palzewic Photo
Franz said NEWMA recently did a study of area manufacturing companies, and the results were eye-opening.
“We found that more than 84% of the 116 companies who participated in the study said they can’t find the workforce needed,” she said. “That was welding, machinists, engineers, etc. — that’s all STEM. We know we have an aging workforce, and we know we can’t wait until kids are seniors in high school to get them excited about STEM. We’re even going down to elementary schools.”
Franz said with NEWMA hearing more and more about the cost of college debt, it’s important to raise awareness of technical college offerings.
“People maybe don’t realize that (by going) to a technical college, they can get as good of a career (compared to a four-year) without the debt,” she said. “We need people of all degree fields — four-year, two-year, one-year and certificates — but we need a lot more under those four-year degrees.”
NWTC’s part
Jill Theide, NWTC’s associate dean of engineering, said the college loved playing host to the Mind Trekkers event.
“To see students — especially middle school students — get excited about STEM is so cool,” she said. “Giving them the chance to see what else is out there is what it’s all about. We were so grateful to partner with MTU and NEWMA for this event.”
Theide said she has seen a shift in students’ thinking over the years when it comes to post-secondary education.
“Kids can take college classes while in high school now,” she said.
Theide said there will always be a need for many students to attend four-year colleges, but the NWTCs of the world are becoming more and more valuable.
Two students learn the basics of hands-only CPR at the Mind Trekkers program at NWTC. Rich Palzewic Photo
“That’s the great thing about NWTC — we have a wide range of offerings,” she said. “You can get a fantastic job, even with one of our nine-month certificates. We also have agreements with MTU, MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering), the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, etc., so your two-year associate’s degree (from NTWC) can help you complete your bachelor’s degree at one of those other universities. All the credits would transfer.”
Theide said a typical cost for a two-year associate’s degree at NWTC is about $16,000.
“That’s total,” she said. “You can come out of that making a family-sustainable wage — $50,000, $60,000 or even $70,000 per year.”
A next step
After attending Mind Trekkers, Tefft de MuÒoz said students have the opportunity to possibly dive deeper into an area of interest through MTU’s summer youth program.
This student tests his ergonomic power through a rowing machine. Rich Palzewic Photo
“Our longest-running program is our summer youth programs — (around for) more than 50 years,” she said. “They are one-week academic camps- by day, kids between sixth and eleventh grade have academic exploration, and then by night, it’s the traditional hiking, beach, games, arts and crafts.”
Tefft de MuÒoz said between 50-60 programs are offered at MTU each summer.
“About 60% of the students who come do so on scholarship,” she said. “We partner with industry (businesses) to provide scholarships. On average, we see about 1,000 students — they come from 33 states and 14 countries. That’s the next step after an event like Mind Trekkers — it’s a deeper dive. We offer a wide variety of programs.”
For more information on MTU’s summer youth program, visit mtu.edu/syp or email Tefft de MuÒoz at catefft@mtu.edu.
