March 13, 2019

SVSU event to connect teens with STEM professionals

An inspired idea by local teenagers to encourage their peers to pursue science careers will take shape at Saginaw Valley State University later this week.

SVSU will host a Teen Science Café on Thursday, March 14, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., in rooms GS 115 and GS 117 of Gilbertson Hall. The event is free and open to all middle and high school students.

Teen Science Café events aim to empower students by connecting them with STEM professionals eager to discuss their respective industries. The professionals planning to appear at SVSU's event will represent careers such as nursing, mechanical engineering, cybersecurity and agriculture, organizers say.

The SVSU-hosted Teen Science Café in part was the creation of local high schools students involved in the university's Chief Science Officers program, which is a branch of a national initiative designed to encourage middle and high school students to serve as advocates for science education among their peers.

Mackenzie Jean-Marcoux, a senior at John Glenn High School in Bay City and a member of the group that organized the Teen Science Café, said she was inspired to widen her influence as a science education advocate during her second year with the Chief Science Officers program.

"This year, I wanted to focus on STEM career exploration in more than just my high school," she said. "I thought the Teen Science Café would be a great idea that would accomplish my goals."

Jean-Marcoux said she is eager to survey those in attendance to measure the event's impact.

"I am most excited for when we'll be able to ask the students what they've learned and, hopefully, to see that some of them now have new ideas for possible careers," she said.

Adrianne Cole, the director of STEM@SVSU, said Teen Science Café events help attendees better relate to people in science-related careers.

"Teens gain a more realistic and positive perception of STEM professionals, get a glimpse of the interesting lives they lead, and learn that they are real, complex, multi-dimensional humans — just like them," Cole said.

For more information on the Chief Science Officers program as well as other STEM-based initiatives at SVSU, visit www.svsu.edu/stem/.