STEM Education Matters

By Mayra Ramos

STEM education matters!

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.” This quote resonated with me during the Department of Defense (DoD) STEM Exchange conference held in Washington D.C. from February 22-24, 2023. Educators, STEM field experts, STEM education advocates, and STEM workforce development agencies all came together to discuss innovative ideas and a plan of action to improve STEM education throughout the country. The 2023 conference was the first time the DoD STEM brought together people from all corners of the country, and they did not disappoint.

Each day was filled with intellectually stimulating STEM-related sessions to attend, such as hands-on quantum programming, drone flight simulators, MATHCOUNTS math contests, all the way to my very own spark session Building Connections with Underrepresented Youth: LGBTQ+ Students in STEM. The sessions were just the beginning of a noteworthy conference. The conversations and connections made by not only myself but everyone in attendance were the catalysts of this conference. The conference flier read “DoD STEM’s network will explore the power and potential to leverage relationships that will amplify our collective impact.” This was an understatement. The DoD’s STEM network did not simply amplify our impact in STEM education, but it exponentially magnified it as many educators, including myself, returned to our school campuses with ideas and resources to help our students become future leaders in STEM fields.