STEM Forward Announces Excellence in STEM Awards Winners to be recognized at the 19th Annual sySTEMnow Conference, Focusing on STEM For All; Partnering for Greater Inclusion

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – October 19, 2022. STEM Forward is thrilled to announce the 2022 Excellence in STEM Award winners, more commonly known as the Stemmy Awards. Help us congratulate the following:

• Education Category: Golda Meir School, Milwaukee Public Schools

Golda Meir School, part of the Milwaukee Public Schools, serves students in grades 3–12 and has an outstanding STEM program that is a model for other schools across the city and state. As a Title One School, they prioritize providing STEM classes and opportunities for all 1200 plus students from 3rd – 12th grade. With the leadership of Michelle Carter, Principal, and Tina Gleason, STEM Teacher, STEM Club Coach, and Project Lead the Way focal, they have designed pathways for all students to be successful in the Technology and Engineering fields, including offering classes, mentors, internships, competitions, clubs, conferences, and field trips. Gold Meir School provides outreach and guidance to support all these opportunities and programs for their students and other surrounding schools. They have cultivated strong partnerships with many local government entities and businesses to create connections for students and work with them to help solve some of the issues affecting our community.

• Individual Category: Dr. Amy Schiebel is an Associate Professor in the Natural Sciences at Edgewood College. Dr. Schiebel created Edgewood College’s Office of Science Outreach (OSO) 14 years ago to provide expert-level, fully accessible, and research-based science education programming for historically underrepresented communities in STEAM. Her goal was to create a department on campus by which the resources at Edgewood could be shared with others outside of the College and provide a means for faculty and students to pursue outreach opportunities in line with the College’s commitment to “service.” In that time, Dr. Schiebel piloted and maintained several significant programs in science education, all aimed at engaging families in science and science-related activities. These programs have provided impactful science learning opportunities to 20+ schools and community centers in Madison and Milwaukee and have provided resources for science engagement to hundreds of families.
• Partnership Category: Gearbox Labs. With over 45 years of education experience in the classroom, education publishing, K-20 education, adult learning, and numerous awards for their work, Peter Haydock and Isabel Mendiola created Gearbox Labs to address an international shortage of STEM professionals. Gearbox Labs’ mission is to produce cutting-edge and rigorous STEAM education resources, programs, and experiences for schools, homeschools, out-of-school programs, and self-motivated learners. Peter and Isabel have worked with local schools and organizations to expand STEM understanding with a heavy focus on coding and electronics to teach underserved communities in Milwaukee and beyond. They worked closely with the Milwaukee Academy of Science to deliver coding and electronics programming training to 7th-grade classes at the school and have collaborated with many other local partners to deliver STEM Education to the community, including Discovery World, SHARP Literacy, Milwaukee School of Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and Summerfest. They also plan and execute Maker Faire Milwaukee and Maker Faire Sheboygan to engage the local community in the Maker Movement. Gearbox Labs, Inc. continues to be an amazing partner to many organizations and significantly impacts teaching and expanding STEM Education.

We will showcase the 2022 Stemmy Award Winners during our 19^th annual sySTEMnow Conference, held on Wednesday, October 26, at The Italian Community Center. Metro Milwaukee’s premier STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) conference brings together business leaders, community members, and government officials to share best practices and lessons learned. This year’s theme is STEM For All, Partnering for Greater Inclusion, so join in the discussion as we exchange best practices from existing STEM programs and discuss the following steps to leverage STEM for good causes.

We are pleased to announce our two keynote speakers are Alex Kotran, Chief Executive Officer for the AI Education Project, a non-profit that creates equitable learning experiences that excite and empower students with Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy, and Laurie Rosatone, Division Director, Curriculum, Digital Media, and Communications at the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Both speakers will discuss key local STEM priorities from a national perspective. Along with the keynote speakers, we have 11 breakout sessions with various representations from greater Milwaukee.

To view a detailed agenda and learn more about sySTEMnow Conference, visit https://www.stemforward.org/systemnow-conference. Don’t miss out; register for the sySTEMnow Conference today. We encourage you to connect with STEM Forward on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.