Proper education is just as crucial to serving society as it is to personal achievement. Success in this country is generally tied to education, even in the case of professional athletes. It’s imperative that successful athletes harp on the significance of taking education seriously. Young sports stars will be rewarded and praised enough for their achievements in competition, and receive reinforcement in mimicking famous athletes.
One team has answered the call to duty and helped found a program with the goal of drawing awareness to the benefits of a STEM education. You may be familiar with STEM, (science, technology, engineering, and math) and efforts in recent years to improve skill and interest in those fields for youth nationwide. Sporting KC, a prominent soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas, has linked with Black and Veatch to produce the growStem initiative. Black and Veatch is a top global engineering and construction company. Their plan is to involve local middle school students with STEM by combining a variety of workshops with appearances by important figures from both, the Sporting KC team, and Black and Veatch.
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The two will work together to offer programs such as camps, hosted and attended by the two organizations, with a focus on an individual STEM subject. Students will then test their new found knowledge with a test and assessment pertaining to sports and athlete performance, with Sporting KC’s players as their subjects.
Black and Veatch is also working in other ways within communities to build STEM awareness and participation. Their Senior Manager, Becky Schieber, says of STEM, “They are vitally important to secure the next generation of professionals who will solve the engineering challenges of energy, water and communications in the future.” Their alliance with Sporting KC can aid in associating a global sport and popular local team with exposure to STEM curriculum and implementation.
Black and Veatch’s mission to garner more interest in important subjects and career fields is a valiant one. The children they reach will grow to be the engineering and technological leaders of tomorrow, and find ways to improve the quality of life for millions of people. Sporting KC, too, is playing an important role that more sports teams should adopt. The influence of sports and athletes is extremely profound. This tandem of technology expert and sports team is one that can produce great results and have far reaching implications. More partnerships of the like would go a long way in bettering communities and empowering individuals.