In our fast-paced and complex world, it is vitally important that our youth are equipped with the skills necessary to solve problems through gathering and evaluating evidence to make sound decisions. At Boys Town, we help our youth to develop these skills by teaching science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM, to both our middle-school and high school students.
STEM education is not a separate subject, but a combination of different skills learned in each discipline including critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity and digital literacy. This is especially valuable since most careers require some STEM knowledge. STEM is further differentiated with the addition of other disciplines like art known as STEAM and robotics, known as STREAM.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that employment in STEM occupations has grown 79 percent in the past three decades, and STEM jobs are projected to grow an additional 11 percent by 2030. An estimated 3.5 million STEM job opportunities will be available in the United States by 2024, but only about 1.5 million will be filled due to lack of qualified candidates.
Recognizing the importance of STEM in today’s workforce, Boys Town is focused on growing the STEM curriculum in the classroom. Last year, based on wide student interest, Paul Blum, a Boys Town math teacher, started a club for STEM at the school and rebooted Mathletics, a math competition club. Today, there are three separate STEM-related clubs at Boys Town including Robotics, Math and Science.
Boys Town’s Math club attends competitions at both the University of Nebraska – Omaha (UNO) and the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL), in addition to other local colleges. At these events, the students work on very difficult math problems, beyond the ACT level, for half a day and complete in team events for the second half.
The Science Club regularly attends competitive events and will attend the annual Nebraska Science Olympiad Tournament held at UNL in April. One of the goals of the Science Olympiad is to elevate enthusiasm for science education and to help develop productive, high-performing adults. Students can compete in more than 15 events ranging from Anatomy and Physiology to Forensics, Forestry and Fossils. These competitive events include everything from designing and building to scientific testing and analysis.
