STEM Education Programs Targeted for Rural Areas

Research studies of persistence in STEM after engagement of youth in STEM activities have demonstrated that long-term, sustained programs have the most significant impact on future persistence in STEM. For example, compared to a baseline peer group with the same socio-economic and educational backgrounds, students who participate in a FIRST Robotics program are 50% more likely to attend college, twice as likely to major in science or engineering in college, and four times as likely to end up in an engineering career. Therefore, my focus in rural West Virginia has been to develop, long-term, sustainable, hands-on, engineering focused STEM programs through schools, scouting organizations, 4-H, and direct parental engagement. I will describe the origins of our program, its growth over the past fifteen years, our funding model (hint, direct federal agency support is not sustainable), and the current state of the program. Since 2008, 100% of our local (in our county and three surrounding counties) program graduates have gone on to postsecondary education (98% to college), nearly all on some sort of full or partial tuition scholarship. 83% have gone on to undergraduate programs in science or engineering. Of those that have gone on to undergraduate programs in science or engineering, over 40% are female or from other underrepresented groups in STEM careers.