Madi Howard is a junior at Stockbridge High School. Her goal is to be a biomedical engineer, a realistic possibility because of the STEM program at her school.
"I've probably built six or seven R.O.V’s," Howard said.
Those are remotely operated vehicles, which Howard says are kind of like robots you can drive underwater. Pretty impressive for a teenager. She started the program in 4th grade, since then she's traveled the country presenting her work. It's a big part of her life.
"Very big,” Howard said. “All the opportunities I've gotten from this program is crazy. It's immensely impacted my life."
She's just one of many Stockbridge students who got to show off to Governor Snyder. The school has been trying to arrange his visit for 4 years. The governor was impressed with their work, but most of all:
"Just the students themselves,” Snyder said.” And the fact that you have high school students helping elementary school students. It’s students helping students with great oversight from wonderful instructors. But they're giving them the freedom to learn, to explore to try new things and to actually have some failures.”
They say it's important the governor could see the work of Stockbridge students. Since the school is in a small town, they say it truly shows what stem programs are capable of.
"A lot can be done when given the initiative and given the spirit and a little bit of opportunity,” Karl Klimek, the Executive Director of Square One Education Network said. “Kids and teachers come through and that's true throughout the state."
They say stem teaches kids different ways of thinking and that can lead to a better future.
"You get kids who are just embedded into their community and they end up helping build the economy for the future so it's a STEM program... But it's really about building the future of the state," Klimek said.
They're hoping it proves to the state the potential of STEM and why there should be more focus on it throughout Michigan.
