College exposes high-school students to STEM careers

In June, the college teamed up with the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning, NAF, MPS, the MPS Foundation, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Journey House and All Hands Boatworks to introduce the NAF Future-Ready Scholars at UW-Milwaukee

STEM HS summer

The five-week program (one week of engineering and four weeks of architecture) engages high-school students in hands-on investigating, design, construction, and experiential learning as they spend time living and learning on campus.

“The program helps students to imagine STEM careers and the college paths that would lead to those careers,” says Chris Beimborn, UWM EnQuest coordinator and STEM outreach manager.

In the college’s Makerspace, the 16 students of the engineering cohort created a solar power station that will be installed in a community garden shade pavilion that the architecture cohort will build in the coming weeks. They used kits contributed to the college’s pre-college outreach programs by Creation Technologies.

In addition to working on their real-world project, the group visited the Virtual Reality Infrastructure Lab and the Foundry, met faculty members, took part in a game design workshop with a Girls Who Code instructor, interacted with our college’s students and participated in college and career readiness sessions. 

The engineering students presented their work to families and guests on June 10.

This year’s group of students attend the following MPS high schools: Audubon, Bay View, Golda Meir, Hamilton, Marshall, Reagan, Riverside University and Rufus King. Many belong to year-round NAF Academies that provide STEM career exposure and work-based learning in their schools. They learned about the opportunity from teachers, counselors, and parents.