13-3 Building STEM Interest in Rural Western North Carolina Through University-Led K–12 Outreach

Session: Building Connections Between Educators and Geoscientists to Foster the Future Workforce

Presenting Author:

Author:

Abstract:

Providing STEM engagement opportunities for K–12 students and teachers can help strengthen a region’s interest in STEM careers. Particularly in rural areas of the US where resources are limited for conducting in-school STEM activities, intervention by higher education institutions can provide much-needed stimulus for young minds in the community. For the past three years, Western Carolina University has presented an annual STEM Outreach Day for local K–12 schools. This outreach event is designed to expose students to a range of disciplines, activities, experiments, and research projects from STEM areas. Students move from one station to another where they watch demonstrations, conduct brief experiments, or learn about various aspects of STEM. In 2023, 280 students participated in the WCU outreach event. The number of students participating grew to 595 and 569 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. In 2025, participating students ranged from grades 3 to 12 from 12 schools across western North Carolina. The event included 40 activities facilitated by 90 WCU faculty, staff, and students. Examples include tree measuring, forensic analysis, groundwater tanks, a chemistry magic show, math games, a robot dog, fossil and rock demonstrations, slime making, and a mock crime scene investigation.

I assessed the effectiveness of the 2025 event with a post-event survey that gauged how much students’ interest in STEM was influenced by attending the event. Of the 198 students who responded, 78% stated that they like STEM more because they attended the event, 14% stated there was no change from the event, and 8% stated they still disliked STEM. 92% of the students reported learning something about STEM from the event; common responses include how viruses can be beneficial, how to filter water, the bones and muscles that make up the human body, and how extract and visualize strawberry DNA. 29% of the students reported they wanted to pursue a STEM career, with many students mentioning the medical field or computer science. In the future, I plan to develop strategies to increase participation from more rural, lower socioeconomic status schools from around the region (e.g., obtain funding to aid in transportation costs); and broadening participation from faculty and staff on campus, particularly from other colleges on campus (e.g., engineering and fine arts).

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