Stem Workshop Introduction with City of North Miami Mayor Joseph Smith

Initiative Overview:

At The Manifezt Foundation’s Youth STEM Innovators Workshop Introduction at the Shalom Community Center we partnered with Mayor Joseph Smith and Florida International University to host and provide an introduction to our hands on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. The workshop was focused around showing the children what possibilities and career paths are available in these fields, and the importance they serve to society and overall progression in the world. We enjoyed a tremendous turnout of over forty eager children ready to interact with and learn from our knowledgeable FIU student volunteers.

As part of the science based class, we provided a demonstration of a dissection of a boar’s heart. For the majority of students in attendance, as many of them attend schools that lack the funding to conduct practical experiments and allow the students to conduct hands on research, it was their first time seeing the live dissection of an organ. Volunteers witnessed both shocked and intrigued reactions from the children in attendance, but in both scenarios the students could be seen visibly enjoying the experience they likely would not have otherwise had.

Our volunteers for the computer science class understood that one of our goals was to show the children that it can be just as fun and interesting as traditional science – so they assisted us delivering a crash course detailing how coding works, and how it can be used to create your own video game. We covered a basic understanding of coding languages, and after showing them how they can be used to create video games, how they apply to robotics, engineering, and technology.

After using the demonstrations to spark their interest, Mayor Joseph Smith provided an inspiring speech about his journey growing up in a community just like theirs, and ultimately making it out to become a doctor and later pursue a career as a politician – serving as an excellent real life example of what can be accomplished with enough hard work. Finally, we concluded the workshop detailing examples of the many different career opportunities in various STEM tracks, and answering questions on how to go about pursuing them.