LI Works STEM Expo

On Monday, May 24^th, 2010, 400 excited students lingered in the lobby of the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, LI. They had gathered earlier to participate in the STEM Expo, an interactive fair designed to encourage them to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering. The Expo was organized by Long Island Works Coalition (LIWC), a division of Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, Inc.  LIWC closely partners with area businesses and local universities to help make sure that Long Island‘s young people have the education and other skills needed for successful careers on the Island.

 

Interactive displays from 16 local corporations filled the museum. Represented were the Bank of Smithtown, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Northrop Grumman Corporation, the Guide Dog Foundation, Federal Aviation Administration, the National Weather Service Bureau, UCP Nassau, Home Performance Technologies, Eastern Energy Systems, the Cradle of Aviation, eInstruction and the Math Museum.  

Students were in attendance from a variety of schools, including East Meadow, Westbury, St. Dominic’s, Holy Family Regional, Baldwin, Wantagh, Great Neck South, Massapequa, and Beacon School 265 (Mc Kinney High school).

The young people were greeted by Andrew Parton, the museum’s Executive Director. Parton encouraged them to study subjects they felt passionate about, and advised them not to allow anything to divert them from the pursuit of their life goals. Long Island Works Coalition Executive Director Cheryl Davidson, along with former Ms. United States Woman, Sophia Hall, stressed to the young audience the need to believe in their dreams and to study diligently to achieve them. Many of the students showed an interest in research science and medicine.

 

 At one display, Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers spoke about applied mathematics as a matter of life and death.  “Mistakes are an important part of learning. But what if you had a job where you couldn’t make mistakes – where you have to do math problems instantly, in your head?” An air-traffic control simulator demonstrated how control tower employees use math to perfectly time takeoffs and landings. 

At another booth - this one run by organizers, LIWC - the scientific method was used to illuminate the current Gulf of Mexico oil crisis and how techniques learned in school can provide real world scientific answers. Students were asked to clean up a substance using limited resources, such as rope, sponges, mulch, and paper towels. The team brainstormed and used trial-and-error to decide how to proceed.  The problem showed how knowledge of current events and the use of teamwork and problem-solving are in many ways keys to success. The booth also opened the student’s eyes a new career possibility: becoming an Aquatic Ecologist, a career that is unique and requires math, science, resourcefulness, and teamwork.

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