The STEM Career Expo at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois is a chance for students to meet with STEM professionals and learn about a variety of potential career paths. Photo by Reidar Hahn, Creative Services at FERMI Labs

Sixty-three percent of respondents to a recent informal NSTA Reports poll said their schools don’t hold career expos focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but 63% reported that their schools strive to include STEM in general career fairs. One respondent noted a dual benefit, as a STEM career fair “exposes students to different STEM careers they may not have known existed. It allows the school to create community connections to be used in the future.”

Division Street Elementary School in Saratoga Springs, New York, adds the arts to STEM, holding a STEAM Career Fair for more than 10 years. According to Principal Greer E. Miller, the fair features four presentations per K–5 grade; each presentation includes a discussion or demonstration and time for students to ask questions.

“The theory goes, by the time they leave elementary school, they will have been introduced to at least 24 careers in STEAM,” explains Miller. Volunteer presenters are either family members of students or community members. “When we first started the STEAM Career Fair several years ago, a staff member knew someone who designed water parks. The person still comes every year, even though he does not have any affiliation with the school.”

The Greater Capital Region STEAM Exposition (GCRSE) in Albany, New York, has incorporated career education with a high school STEAM competition for five years. The three-part event opens with high school students presenting interdisciplinary STEAM projects to judges and attendees, followed by a networking lunch. 

“This provides the high school students with an opportunity to meet…(other like-minded high school students from all over the Capital Region of New York State) and with individuals at the next level (college) who can provide guidance as to how to continue with their interest in STEM fields,” explains Michele C. Famoso, physics teacher and STEM Club Advisor at Albany’s Colonie Central High School and GCRSE coordinator. The event wraps up with a Discovery Fair during which the high school students display their projects, and groups such as robotics clubs, technology companies, environmental groups, and colleges and universities “have demonstrations and hands-on activities for the public to participate in,” she continues. “Our goal here is to excite, motivate, and encourage students at all levels to learn about STEM and STEAM, and to pursue STEM careers...whatever that may be. Who knows what a career in STEM will look like in the next 20 years?

“We have the full continuum,” Famoso adds. “We have the hands-on, interactive, fun exhibits that you might see at other STEM Expos, but we also get our students involved, all the way from preK through grade 12, and college students and programs, too (even graduate students come and show off what they are doing).”

There are many challenges to planning a successful event. “Planning this annual event is a full-time job, and I already have one,” she says. The first year, she worked closely with Principal Tom Kachadurian, who organizes a district “character building” event, Raiderfest, at the school. GCRSE and Raiderfest are held on the same day, and many participants attend both events. “As the event has grown, so has my team. We now have a GCRSE Planning Committee from all over the Capital Region…It is still a lot of work, but it is so worth it.” 

The STEM Summit has been bringing schools and area businesses together in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for nine years. “We’re pulling from three [different] counties,” says Dianne Clowes, instructional technology resource teacher at Courtland High School and Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. “We get [representatives from the] Civil Air Patrol, Dahlgren [Naval] Surface Warfare Center, FIRST Robotics, GEICO, [and others,] all showcasing the STEM jobs available. They demonstrate equipment and show how they use STEM in their careers.” 

Clowes said they have received good feedback and drew between 700 and 800 participants in 2019. “It’s nice to be partnered with the Chamber of Commerce. They’re always working with businesses, which makes an easy relationship for us.” Local students also showcase projects they’re doing in school.
 

The “big intention” of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife’s Student Wildlife Research Symposium is to “not only encourage kids to go into research, but to encourage them to stay involved in the field,” says Jen Dennison, wildlife education coordinator. 

The symposium offers an opportunity for high school students to share their research with other students and professionals. The symposium includes “five slots for paper presentations, but we take as many posters as we can,” Dennison explains. “We have 30–40 students presenting their research; there’s usually 3–4 kids working on each presentation…Students have told us they like the non-competitive aspect.”

The symposium attracts 75–100 attendees, including staff from ODNR’s fish management, wildlife management, and law enforcement divisions who visit the poster presentations and join the students for a networking lunch. ODNR staff also bring equipment such as shock boats, live bear traps, and robotic decoy animals. “We also invite colleges and universities to come and…talk about study paths. There’s a lot of casual interaction. Kids walk up and ask a question one-on-one,” she says.

“The intention has always been to pull more kids into the field. By giving [students] opportunities to show what they’ve been doing, they’re more likely to stick” with the field, Dennison says. 

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois hosts a STEM Career Expo that drew nearly 1,000 participants last year, according to Susan Dahl, education program leader at the lab. “We have 150 or more STEM professionals” from Fermi as well as other labs, small businesses, large corporations, and government agencies, Dahl explains. Students and their families visit exhibitors arranged by the type of career they represent. The expo typically has professionals representing more than 80 engineering careers, 10–15 math or technology careers, and about 25 science careers. Five panel discussions offer additional insight into various career paths.

“We started with two schools [in 2007]…The idea was ‘Why should the schools do [separate events]?’” Dahl recalls. “It’s become really popular. We attract a lot of local people and have expanded into the Chicagoland area.” 

She says students learn about careers and some even ask about internships. “We even had a student [who attended one of the] earlier years of expo who found out about a career [who is] now in that career and on our panel.

“Thirteen years ago, people didn’t think about STEM as much as now. The public and educators can come here to learn more and be inspired,” Dahl asserts.

This article originally appeared in the April 2020 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Read the full issue now.