Category: Effective STEM Mentoring Opportunities

Let’s Celebrate Students’ Achievements at the JHU Robotics Tournament

Robotics is a fun and engaging way for students to learn more about engineering and cultivate skills that are important in the workplace.  Baltimore City Public School students competed in a robotics tournament at Johns Hopkins University.

 

Delali's presenstation inspired students to consider a career in STEM. Watch the video of this presentation and browse the slide deck for this presentation.


Candace Givens Shares Why You Should Pursue the Career You Want

Listen to Candance Givens compelling story.  She shares her journey to become an Electrical Engineer and then to go on to become a Vice President for a leading defense contractor locally.  Candace encourages high school students attending a robotics tournament at the Historic Cherry Hill Elementary / Middle School in Baltimore City.


Middle Schoolers Hear about Engineering Careers

At the Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School VEX robotics tournament, members of robotics teams took time out to learn about what it is like to become an engineer in Maryland. Mike Hinkey and William Redmond shared their first hand experiences with the youth.

For further information, view any of these videos

 

This presentation is an outgrowth of the work of the BmoreSTEM Effective STEM Mentoring Opportunities workgroup.  BmoreSTEM is looking for more presenters, especially for:

  • Medical
  • Engineering in a Non-defense industry
  • Advanced Manufactoring
  • Computing
  • Cyber
  • Computer Gaming
  • Finance/Business/Accounting
  • Data Analytics
  • Research
  • Education

Share Your Career

BmoreSTEM is looking for STEM professionals to present about their careers. We will videotape the presentations if desired, but other forms of presentation are welcomed as well.

Volunteer Now

Baltimore City Robotics Programs Continue to Expand

Team Growth Over TIme Bar Chart

Number of Programs

    • Increase in total number of programs
      • 2013-14: 38 programs
      • 2014-15: 62 programs
      • 2015-16: 82 programs
      • 2016-17: 79 programs
      • 2017-18: 72 programs
      • 2018-19: 82 programs
      • 2019-20: 95 programs

Baltimore City Public Schools remains a large percentage of Maryland programs:

  • 53/146 (36.3%) of registered Maryland VEX IQ teams are from Baltimore City up from 44/158 (27.8%) from December 2018
  • 37/180 (20.5%) of registered Maryland VEX teams are from Baltimore City up from (18.7%) from December 2018

 

Year\Program FLL FLL Jr. FRC VEX VEX IQ Grand Total
2013-14 14   2 22   38
2014-15 25   1 36   62
2015-16 26 9 1 24 22 82
2016-17 22 13 1 26 17 79
2017-18 16 15 1 21 19 72
2018-19 18 15 1 26 22 82
2019-20 22 18* 1 23 31 95
Grand Total 143 70 8 178 111 510

*Projected

Number of Teams

  • Increase in the number of teams
    • 2013-14: 58 teams
    • 2014-15: 91 teams
    • 2015-16: 89 teams
    • 2016-17: 112 teams
    • 2017-18: 110 teams
    • 2018-19: 127 teams
    • 2019-20: 140 teams

 

Year\Program FLL FLL Jr. FRC VEX VEX IQ Grand Total
2013-14 15   2 41   58
2014-15 26   1 64   91
2015-16 22 7 1 34 25 89
2016-17 24 13 1 47 27 112
2017-18 19 20 1 35 35 110
2018-19 19 20 1 44 43 127
2019-20 24 22* 1 37 56 140
Grand Total 149 82 8 302 185 587

*Projected

 

Number of New Programs

    • Increase in number of new programs each year, but declines in 2016-17.
      • 2013-14: 16 of 38 programs are new (42.1%)
      • 2014-15: 38 of 62 programs are new (61.3%)
      • 2015-16: 49 of 82 programs are new (59.8%)
      • 2016-17: 31 of 79 programs are new (39.2%)
      • 2017-18: 30 of 72 programs are new (41.7%)
      • 2018-19: 33 of 82 programs are new (40.2%)
      • 2019-20: at least 30 new programs

 

Year\Coaching Status New Veteran Veteran Coach and School, New Program Grand Total
2013-14 16 22   38
2014-15 38 22 2 62
2015-16 49 28 5 82
2016-17 31 47 1 79
2017-18 30 40 2 72
2018-19 33 49   82
Grand Total 197 208 10 415

2018-19 Robotics Statistics (As of October 2019)


Effective STEM Mentoring Opportunities Workgroup Status for October 2019

Unfortunately, we have been largely unsuccessful in attracting individuals interested in supporting the initiative to provide individual mentoring to the Middle School Robotics students.  We have decided to change direction and focus on recruiting speakers for ~30-minute talks to the students/parents/guardians at the 6 City Schools Robotics events that will take place this year. The list of Events we need to find speakers for is as follows:

Date Venue Target Audience
10/19 Forest Park HS Middle/High
11/09 Morgan State University All
12/14 Tench Tilghman EMS Middle/High
01/11 Calvin Rodwell EMS Elem/Middle
01/25 Johns Hopkins University All

 

Speakers will have ~30 minutes (at 9:00 AM) to speak to the students/parents/guardians about any of the following topics or another relevant topic.

  • STEM careers and opportunities (specific STEM careers or in general)
  • Workforce and Higher Education opportunities for Robotics participants
  • How students should be preparing now for careers in STEM fields?
  • What parents should know about STEM opportunities for their kids?
  • My life journey to a STEM career and how it can help you with your journey
  • Pitfalls to avoid on the way to your career in STEM

 

The speakers will NOT have access to a computer/projector, so they will need to be prepared to speak with just a microphone and whatever notes they wish to use.


STEM Mentors Needed for Baltimore City Middle School Robotics Students

The BmoreSTEM Ecosystem is initiating a pilot mentoring program for the Baltimore City Middle School Robotics program and we are in need of volunteer mentors to pair up with the students in the Middle School Robotics program. We are in search of local employees, retirees, college students and high school students to act as mentors to the middle school robotics participants. Our goal is capitalize on the youth’s interest in STEM (i.e. Robotics) and put them on an academic path to STEM careers and ultimately keep them on a STEM career path into and through High School.
Mentors will be able to engage in several activities with the students to include – assisting with coaching the robotics teams, attending Robotics events with the students, providing guidance on classes they should be taking to be prepared to enter high school and college ready to pursue STEM careers, and utilize on-line resources to guide them in career path selection. Our objective is to have 1 mentor per robotics student.
The time commitment for the mentors is expected to be about 1 hour per week. BmoreSTEM will provide the mentors with training materials to facilitate potential activities with the students and educate the mentors on the course sequences the students should be following to prepare for STEM careers (e.g. completion of Algebra I in Middle School and Calculus in High School).

If you are interested or have questions about this opportunity, please contact Gino Tagatay (email [email protected]).


Effective Mentoring Workgroup Launched

Career Mentoring for Robotics Youth

We are happy to announce the formation of our first workforce development focused workgroup: Career Mentoring for Robotics Youth. The workgroup, co-chaired by Mike Hinkey and Gino Tagaytay, will focus on developing a pilot mentoring program for youth participating in City Schools’ robotics program. 

The goal is to move middle school students from showing an interest in STEM to putting them on, and keeping them on, a STEM career path into and through high school. The workgroup will develop partnerships with local employers and colleges/universities to identify mentors to both assist with a robotics team and provide career mentoring to students. On-line resources (such as Tallo, Gladeo, and Naviance) will be considered to facilitate initial career mentoring conversations, and existing infrastructure from established mentoring programs (such as THREAD and Maryland MENTOR) will be utilized where possible.

Please contact Mike Hinkey or email [email protected] if you are interested in playing a key role.