SILAS Education and the REACH Museum launched the first annual STEM Connections Gala designed to honor local STEM Educators and connect them with industry professionals to facilitate long-term connections and collaborations. These industry experts are to be table hosts for the gala with the intention of acting as ambassadors to bridge the pathway from classroom to career through relation building with the educators. These relationships will impact student learning and prepare them for a future using STEM content and competencies throughout their lives.

A STEM ambassador is an expert in STEM and is currently practicing any or all of the STEM disciplines professionally. They are able and willing to connect and communicate with others about their field, specifically in a classroom setting.

The future of the 21st century workforce depends on today’s students seeing the value of their classroom training as it aligns to a future career. Educators and ambassadors can collaborate to ensure that today’s work is building tomorrow’s STEM leaders.

A STEM ambassador reaches out to a classroom educator to build relationships to meet the needs for growing STEM content and competencies within their curriculums. Through ongoing communication, educators and ambassadors recognize and value each other’s strengths to synergize the relationship to the benefit of students.

This relationship between the ambassador and educator is flexible to accommodate each other’s needs and strengths. Ideas for impacting students include (but are not limited to): classroom visits, team planning for projects, field trips, or after-school club mentorships. Ambassadors also help connect educators with other industry experts who may have additional resources and/or connections to a particular need, content, or competency within the STEM community.