Article by Anandah Brandy, Staff assisted by Asta Hemenway, Executive Editor
Tallahassee Community College hosted its first Annual STEM Summit in mid-November in the Turner Auditorium. The Summit’s goal was to encourage high school seniors to join TCC’s STEM program in order to receive a fully-funded scholarship.
The STEM program is a curriculum based on four disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
TCC’s STEM Program received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation. It will provide 60 students a full tuition and fees over the next four years. TCC is the only college in Florida to receive this grant for this program.
Anthony Jones, who is the Dean of TCC’s Division of Science and Mathematics, hosted the STEM Summit. He said joining the STEM program has many benefits.
“There are numerous benefits I would say the first one is professional development training,” Jones said. “Second would be the opportunity for internships.Third would be just to develop a sense of belonging and build the camaraderie of working with students who are on light paths.”
Kantis Simmons, former NASA Research Scientist and International STEM Speaker, ended the summit with a presentation. He said STEM helped him in college, with job and scholarship opportunities, and encouraged the students to use to resources STEM has to offer.
“Make STEM a living degree. Make stem a living career. Make STEM a part of your life,” Simmons said. “And I believe that if you do those things, you can learn STEM, you can live STEM, and you can love STEM.”
For more information on STEM, and to apply, visit:
https://www.tcc.fl.edu/academics/academic-enrichment/stem-program/
