SAN ANTONIO - Inspiring students in underserved communities to pursue STEM careers. That's the goal of a free after-school program at the San Antonio Museum of
SAN ANTONIO - Inspiring students in underserved communities to pursue STEM careers. That's the goal of a free after-school program at the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology ., and it's targeting students in grades 3 through 12 in underserved school districts.
"We are specifically working with Edgewood, Harlandale, San Antonio and South San ISD's, as well as Compass Rose Ingenuity campus," said Chief Learning Officer Cliff Zintgraff. "We want students to be aware of the STEM education opportunities and education career pathways that are available to them in San Antonio." Located inside the Boeing Center at Tech Port, the after-school sessions are available anytime from 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and can be arranged by the student's school or parents. "We want to expose these students in this area that's underserved that may not have the type of technology access that you would have in other districts," said Director of Esports Joshua Martinez. "Hopefully, these students can tap into the STEM careers that provide up to on average $30,000 extra a year in salary." Housed inside the “Area 21” section of SAMSAT, the program will begin its second year in September and is looking for as many participants as possible."The reaction that we get is the best part of the job honestly," said Martinez. "That's the goal, to hit them with something that they'll remember for life." "It's just looks of awe, and their jaws are to the floor," added Lead STEM Educator Giselle De Leon. "Oftentimes, I get students in here that are like, 'I had no idea we had something like this in San Antonio.'" From a “cyber city” made of Legos to an autonomous driving vehicle. Don't forget the Tesla coils and topographical sandbox. Or how about the flight simulators and the cybersecurity operations center. Robotics, Esports, the list goes on and on. "From cyber and aerospace to space and coding," said Zintgraff. "Lots of jobs and careers that those students could land that could really make a difference for them and their families and the community.""We want kids to have their hands on something within five minutes of the class in regards to whatever STEM subject we'll be covering that day," said De Leon. "Make it fun for students and show them that no matter where they're from, they can do STEM if they really want to and if they enjoy it." "The first thing we might do is hand them a small robot and tell them to program that robot and make it make a path on the floor," explained Zintgraff. "It is really important for students – and there's research to support this – that it's important for students to see the relevance of the things that they're studying. They retain it better, they apply it better, and they're more interested in being there."
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