On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Bevill State Community College hosted the first STEM22 Career Exploration Day on the Sumiton Campus.
This event included approximately 850 ninth-grade students from the Walker County School System, Jasper City School System, and Sumiton Christian School. The freshmen participated in interactive activities in STEM fields.
In August 2022, Bevill State Community College announced a partnership with the Alabama Power Foundation and the Walker Area Community Foundation to offer the STEM22 program to students at Walker County Schools and Jasper City Schools. The STEM22 program will provide a seamless pathway for students to Bevill State Community College for education and training to prepare them for the future workforce.
The goal of this project is to provide a ready workforce that will potentially attract businesses and industries in the Information Technology and Robotics/Automation fields. Outcomes of the program include developing computational and critical thinking, learning from failure, gaining self-confidence in STEM settings, and learning about jobs of the future.
By exposing students to various STEM-related career paths, they encounter careers that they may not have known about or considered previously. The program will provide a seamless pathway from middle school to high school to Bevill State to the workforce or 4-year institution. Students will be introduced to STEM career fields earlier, allowing a chosen career pathway to drive their course selection in high school, dual enrollment, and at Bevill State. The career pathways include Coding, Robotics, Engineering, App Development, etc.