NWTC Service-Learning and Civic Engagement 2018-2019 | Page 26

STEM
MIND TREKKERS
Local middle
schoolers explore the
excitement of STEM.
Each spring, more than 2,000 Green Bay
area middle school students arrive at
NWTC to take part in the NWTC Science
and Engineering Festival, also known as the
Mind Trekkers program where they get to
witness a multitude of science experiments.
Mind Trekkers is a flagship program of
Michigan Technological University’s Center
for Pre-College Outreach. Undergraduate
and graduate students become Mind
Trekker guides, traveling across the country
to deliver high-energy, hands-on, STEM
demonstrations to K-12 students, inspiring
them to pursue post-secondary education.
In short, “It’s really to give students an idea
of what science and math fields look like,”
said NWTC Career Coach Megan Favela. “So
this just gives them a really good idea of, is
science something I like? Is math something
I like? And can I grow into that? For a lot
of them, this is the time that they get that
‘yes, this is something I want to do’.”
25
The MTU students
demonstrate the experiments
and are all STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math) majors. The
experiments include a “fire tornado”, a
piano with bananas for keys, a thermal
imaging camera, and a basketball
hoop where students can try making a
basket while wearing prism goggles.
The opportunity also serves as an
opportunity for NWTC students and staff to
get involved, as each event requires a lot of
volunteers for operations to go smoothly.
Student organizations got involved too,
like Civil Engineering students showcasing
their augmented reality sandbox.
According to data collected by Michigan
Tech, 73% of students are more interested
in attending college after attending a
Mind Trekkers event, and 95% of teachers
feel Mind Trekker events promoted
student learning and engagement.