STEMconnector Virtual Event Series
STEM Competitions offer a unique way for employers to engage with students and support STEM learning. This webinar brought together some of the leading organizations supporting STEM competitions to discuss how they support STEM talent goals in addition to community engagement objectives
Angela Davis, State Director, Science Olympiad kicked off the webinar by setting this tone: “Each and every one of us is born a scientist, we are born exploring and researching this world around us, and the only way to continue that is if we are constantly motivated to stay that course.”
In the first round of questions, the panelists were asked: why is it important to engage more students in STEM, why their companies decided to jump into competitions as a part of a STEM investment strategy, and how competitions with organizations like Base 11 and FIRST support connections to students and the future workforce. Al Bunshaft, SVP, 3DExperience Edu, President, Dassault Systèmes US Foundation, had this to say: “STEM Competitions are another form of work-based learning; they give students the ability to get exposed to industry experiential learning” When asked about the importance of STEM competitions, Bunshaft has this to say, “we want learners to engage in the excitement of innovation and making, understand the range of fields in which these skills apply, and expose students to new ways of collaborating and working.”
In the second round the panelists were asked how they envision company collaborations in an ideal world, how to optimize employee engagement in competitions, and why these competitions are critical to supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Potoula Stavropoulus, Director, Social Impact, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said it best when looking toward the future “we recognize that science competitions can be a gateway to careers in STEM – we saw that with our own founders. Both our co-founders are product of the Science Talent Search.”
We are grateful for the panel’s participation and to everyone who made this webinar a success including:
- Al Bunshaft, SVP, 3DExperience Edu, President, Dassault Systèmes US Foundation
- Potoula Stavropoulus, Director, Social Impact, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
- Angela Davis, State Director, Science Olympiad
