How Polygons Can Change the World

                As I read from the script the signal cue, “In Guilford County Schools, students are reaching for the stars” and step off the stage, the spectacle begins.  The lights dim in the large auditorium and students slowly start to fill the stage.  Their own creations and tools serve as illuminating apparatuses for their entrance: beakers illumined with a phosphorescent liquid as dry ice glides out and onto the floor, iPads with the school logo beaming into the auditorium, robots that blink in blue and red as the sounds of their gears whirring resonate into the audience, and the stretching wings of a functioning model plane that twinkle as a beacon into the crowd that watches in awe.

Photo Courtesy of Guilford County Schools

                It was at this moment at the Guilford County Schools’ State of Our Schools event that my interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was solidified.  That night I had the honor of introducing the STEM initiatives in our county before the students made their magical (or should I say scientific?) entrance onto the stage.  Earlier in the afternoon as students practiced how to enter the stage, I had the opportunity to talk to some of the students about what they were doing in their STEM-based schools.  Their answers blew me away.   They were clearly engaged and passionate about what they were learning, but more importantly, they were passionate about using the skills they were gaining in their schools to make a positive impact on the world.  Their STEM-based schools were examining global issues and issuing the charge to their students to find solutions for these issues.  The potential for student growth and engagement was truly awe-inspiring for me.

                I guess I need to issue a disclaimer here.  I am an English teacher and I am a nerd. I almost double majored in English and biology, but dropped the biology major due to the terrifying prospect of taking an advanced calculus class.  I firmly believe that English and the liberal arts are just as important as the more scientific and mathematic fields of study.  It is only when you combine the real-world application of STEM programs with the critical thinking skills necessary to be the next generation of problem solvers that you fully prepare students for the world that exists beyond our public school classrooms.  I guess you could say that I believe in the combined power of the ABCs and the 123s.  I’ve written a great deal about English language arts because that is my area of expertise, but as I get to travel the state and see other classes and programs in action, my interest in STEM schools continues to grow.

 

                In the past month, I attended two different counties to observe two different STEM initiatives.  I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony at Wake NC State STEM Early College and the 3D Systems demonstration in Richmond County.  Wake County and Richmond County are two strikingly different counties based on the types of industry and resources that are traditionally available to them, but in both of these counties, they are making sure that their students have the essential resources to be fully college and career ready. 

 

The Early College in Wake County actively seeks first-generation college students to offer them a rigorous STEM education that will prepare them for their futures.  The school creed, which was boldly proclaimed by the students at the ceremony, restates over and over their belief that they will attend college and they will change the world.  The students take classes both at their STEM high school and on campus at NC State University.  These high school students do amazingly well in their college classes, with students in some upper-level mathematics classes earning some of the highest grades in their classes.  The school also focuses all of its assignments around the National Academy of Engineering’s Fourteen Grand Challenges.  Students engage in lessons that strive to offer solutions to the major challenges our world faces, including clean water shortages, the energy crisis, urbanization, healthcare, personalized learning, and security issues with cyberspace.  The opportunities for instruction and problem solving here are limitless, and by focusing on real issues, students are invested in making the world a better place. 

In Richmond County, I had the opportunity to speak with White House Champion of Change Award Winner Jeff Epps, and see students demonstrate the use of 3D Systems technology in their classes. In a speech to the crowd, Jeff Epps told the audience, “When you start to use 3D Systems, you see everything in the world as a collection of polygons.”  I saw this fascinating paradigm shift among students that day.  I saw students using Xbox Kinects to scan objects and even themselves for insertion into their own student-created video games.  I saw students design their own 3D objects (aircrafts, medical tools, and even whimsical designs like monsters and dolphins, depending on the age of the student) and print them on 3D printers.  I learned that 3D technology is used to create Barbie dolls at Mattel and small appliances at Black and Decker.  I also learned the medical use of these systems.  Take, for instance, the benefits of 3D technology for a dentist who can start out by completing an MRI scan of a patient with missing teeth.  The same scan can be used for a diagnostic evaluation of the needs of the patient, consultative conversations with the patient on the procedure to be performed, creation purposes to design the teeth and bridge needed to complete the procedure, measuring purposes to determine the depth needed to make the implants “stick,” and for surgical practice via a robotic arm for the dentist about to perform the surgery.  The opportunities for increased healthcare here are endless, and as more and more doctors are using 3D printers to create custom prosthetics, this is a developing field for our students who will soon graduate and enter the workforce.

 In all of my experiences with STEM programs in Guilford County, Wake County, and Richmond County, I saw students fully engaged with advanced software and design, many of whom are developing their skills outside of the classroom. In Richmond County, I saw a group of young ladies from Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville who traveled to have first-hand experience with 3D software.  They are members of a new afterschool organization at their high school called 3D-GREES, a club that reaches out to young girls to get them interested in STEM occupations.  I will actually visit these young ladies in their school on November 2 to see how their program is developing as they get more resources at their own school!  These same students when asked why they are interested in STEM programs told me consistently, “It was the first time in my life that someone told me that I could do whatever I want to do.”  There is so much power in those words and in providing these opportunities to our students. 

When asked how he gets students who do not normally pursue STEM careers, especially female students, interested in STEM courses, Jeff Epps gave three essential questions he asks students to get them engaged in programs with a real-world focus:  1. What problem do you want to solve?  2.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  3.  Who do you want to help?   Imagine if all of our students thought about these questions daily.  Can you imagine the level of personal engagement, excitement, and potential for good in the world that would happen as a result?  I want our students to be able to examine the world as both a work of art and as a series of “polygons” that they can understand, restructure, and shape into a better future.  I want them to be able to communicate their desires and visions effectively with the skills they gain in liberal arts and fine arts classes.  Think of the ways that we can address the world’s problems head on if we fully equip our students with what they need not only to live in the future, but also to create the future.