Building Omaha’s Future Leaders
November 2020
Telling our Story
Alan Wang, Executive Director at Prairie STEM, tells his story on how the Omaha STEM Ecosystem collaborated with Prairie STEM in building a stronger STEM community by connecting education and business development for tomorrow’s workforce.
Omaha STEM Ecosystem (OSE) has been instrumental in helping Prairie STEM in all aspects of our work in STEM integration for all PreK-12 students to understand their greatest value. From roundtable discussions leading the way for community partners (equity and access in education) to connections with Ecosystem partners forming mentoring opportunities for students (Union Pacific, Kiewit, Olsson) to direct lines of communication with affiliate organizations when special events or occasions need industry input (Clarkson College giving students hands-on, enriched learning using real-work technology and equipment in healthcare),the OSE has enabled and enhanced the work of non-profits like Prairie STEM in exponentially impactful ways.
Most recently, through our partnership with foundations, schools, districts and University of Nebraska Omaha, OSE helped facilitate the distribution of thousands of STEMkits to area students in direct response to the remote learning environment due to COVID-19 allowing for continued academic progress outside of school. Thanks to our partners in education and industry, students are able to get hands-on, STEM enrichment and learning because of the collaborative work due in large part to our ability to connect with others in the STEM Ecosystem.
Happy National STEM Day
In Celebration of National STEM Day this year (November 8th) The Omaha STEM Ecosystem is proud to announce that Pete Ricketts, Governor of the State of Nebraska, has proclaimed November 8th, 2020 as Omaha STEM Ecosystem Celebrates National STEM Day.
We hope you observe this day to value the need to fix the critical workforce shortage of current and future professionals in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and to seek the skills needed to spark innovation and solve the complex problems of our world.
The Omaha STEM Ecosystem is determined to continue to identify critical workforce skills, align curriculum content with career opportunities of the future, and provide access for all members of our community to quality STEM education programs for years to come.
Save the Date for Project Lead the Way
The Omaha STEM Ecosystem and Project Lead The Way are partnering to host a virtual event to collaborate and share best practices in the new space we all find ourselves in for learning and collaborating. Engaging and motivating learners is a challenge educators face regardless of where learning takes place, but it can be increasingly difficult in these new structures of learning.
This collaborative session will provide tips and tools to engage your learners, build excitement for your content, and discover meaningful ways to motivate learners to tackle real world problems. We hope you will join us for this collaborative session where best practices and resources will be shared from across the region.
Thursday December 3rd, 2020 8:30am-9:30am
The OSE October Roundtable
Our third and final roundtable discussion on Celebrating Creativity in a COVID-19 Culture is now available to view online.
As we navigated the challenges and opportunities this new culture presented us with, we also drew on the knowledge and experience of our diverse stakeholders. Each roundtable discussion identified key themes such as building equity, creative engagement in a virtual world and building support with efficiencies leveraged by technology.
In October, the roundtable enabled our discussions to focus on specific ideas that could be brought to fruition through the continued work of the Omaha STEM Ecosystem committees. The success of this series was a result of community partners coming together to identify and solve problems.
ROUNDTABLE, October 20th recorded session HERE
Read More About Other Events And Resources
Check out all the Resources for Parents, Educators and Families by clicking this link!
ROUNDTABLE, October 20th recorded session HERE
Now featuring resources from Do Space, Prairie STEM and UNL’s 4-H Program!
Stay tuned for our December Newsletter!
We want you to be a part of the conversation about how to find solutions for addressing the shortfall of STEM professionals in the Omaha community. To collaborate with innovators, educators, researchers and leaders of tomorrow, join the Omaha STEM Ecosystem today at https://omahastem.com/get-involved/.
