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A Day in STEM-H Held at UVA Wise

Dedra Duty
Students in scrubs seated at table

Sixth grade students from around the region gathered for the Day in STEM-H at the David J. Prior Convocation Center at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise (UVA Wise) campus on Monday. The event was sponsored by American Electric Power (AEP), who has made it a part of their mission to give back to its service communities through a legacy of supporting STEM-H education. 

Schools attending included Lee, Scott and Wise Counties with over 500 students in attendance and more than 150 UVA Wise faculty, staff and students volunteering to make the event a success. Workshops were conducted by volunteers from state-wide agencies as well as the faculty, staff and students from UVA Wise. 

These workshops provided the opportunity for students to gain first-hand experiences with professionals within their respective fields of expertise. These included hands-on and diverse activities such as suturing a banana, exploring owl pellets, strawberry DNA extraction, exploratory interaction with robotics, touching a human brain, and so much more all in an effort to spark the students’ interest and raise awareness for different STEM-H fields. 

“I love to see the kids and how they are so interested in each experiment or workshop,” says Abigail Edwards, a student volunteer from UVA Wise. “It makes every volunteer moment worthwhile when you see something click for the student and it really grabs their attention.”

Brooke Barnette, the chemical laboratory safety officer and adjunct professor at UVA Wise says, “I personally love getting to interact with the kids and see them get excited about science. I hope that they will be inspired and maybe see themselves in the careers that they get to experience during the day.”

Barnette says the event originally began to help encourage girls to pursue STEM-H fields as they are often unrepresented in many STEM-H fields. Research also shows that around sixth grade is where students start to lose interest in these types of fields. 

“It's crucial that we continue to engage with them in these areas before they get deeper in their education journey and start making decisions about the courses they will take. The overall take-away that we really want them to have from the event is any of the careers that they get to see during the day, they can become them. If they can see it, they can be it,” Barnette concludes.