As you know, CTmrg is always looking for ways to promote manufacturing in the state. It’s too late to start the conversation in high school which is why we think the program created by the Govenor’s office in conjunction with Yale University makes sense. They have a new program that provides an opportunity for students to engage in fun, interactive, hands-on STEM activities – using only household materials!
In their email they provided the following details:
The Challenge will take place over 6 weeks, launching next week, with a new weekly challenge for both individuals and teams to participate. Participants will log into the website, view the video challenge, and access support materials all developed by Yale students. Participants will complete the Challenge and submit a 1-to-2-minute video of their process and outcome to the website. Judges will score the submissions and winners will be selected in 4 categories: Most Creative, Best Solution, Best Presentation, Best Teamwork (only for teams). The winners of each weekly challenge will receive a prize and, at the close of the 6 weeks, all the winners will be eligible for one Grand Prize in each category and for participating in all 6 Challenges.
The Challenge will be sent out to all school districts, municipalities, and many summer camps. Our goal is to engage as many students as possible to excite them about STEM and spark their interest to explore STEM curriculum and careers.
They are looking for corporate sponsors to help provide prizes, t-shirts for participants, and participate in judging to determine prize winners. Corporate sponsors will have their logo presented on the website and any promotional material.
This is a new initiative, and as such, they are not sure how many students will participate, but are estimating at least 100 participants per week, with participation growing weekly as the Challenge is marketed more broadly. This will be a pilot program that they plan to expand next year and make an annual summer Challenge. Prizes should be related to STEM activities and exciting to incentive student participation. Grand prizes would have a higher value and could include scholarship money for college or summer STEM camps for next year.
The videos will be judged by college core students. The top videos will be sent to Celebrity Business Judges for final scoring using a rubric. They expect the time commitment to be approximately 1 hour per week. The scoring can be completed by any designee within your company. In additon, they are planning to host an event at the end of the Challenge to celebrate all those that have participated. This event could be held in-person or virtually, depending on the level of participation, donation, and planning resources.
Please email questions, comments, and interest in sponsorship and judging to GWC@ct.gov. Together, we can change the image of manufacturing in the state of CT and encourage more next generation kids to engage. If you have any ideas or events that achieve this mission, Contact Us to share!