STEM Program accelerates youth academics at JBER

  • Published
  • Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Ten-year-old Trinson Cameron stands atop a pitcher’s mound leaning slightly forward while clutching a foam baseball behind his back. He studies his opponent, 8-year-old Sy Bradley, whose own eyes studiously narrow as he leans over home plate, awaiting the pitch. It looks like an ordinary game of baseball, right up until Trinson lets the ball fly.

Chaos erupts.

Sy swings and misses, but takes off running anyway. Trinson grabs another foam baseball from a bucket at his feet and throws it back over his shoulder in the outfield without looking. What may look like a baseball game where everyone suddenly lost their minds is exactly the opposite. The rules have been tweaked to allow both the offense and defense to score on any given play. Quickball is a form of baseball that teaches school-age children math. Children have to think on their feet and react to ever-changing game dynamics. After each game, the kids tally up scores, figure out batting percentages, ratios and much more.

Quickball is just one of the many fun-filled activities performed at JBER youth centers and school age centers before and after school as part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program. STEM is an initiative under the Sea Research Foundation to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded SRF a grant to implement the program at more than 60 organizations in 38 states and Puerto Rico.

The program is broken down into three modules that run a full calendar year. Children ages 6 to 12 are accepted into the program after their parents complete an application process. STEM activities happen in one-hour blocks before and after school one day a week. Parents can choose to have their children attend one or both sessions.

Beth Yost, Child and Youth Program assistant at the Ketchikan School Age Center on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said the main emphasis is to teach kids STEM skills and give them a fun and relatable way to apply their newfound knowledge.

“The goal is to help kids in those areas in a fun way,” Yost said. “We started out learning how to do tally marks. After they learned that, we learned how to apply it to a game of Quickball. It’s a really good time. The kids don’t care about who won or lost; they just have a good time and learn important math skills in the process.”

Yost said the program also drastically improves kids’ social skills and confidence.

“I’ve seen a lot of social development,” Yost said. “Their attitudes improve on almost everything. STEM builds up not only their math and science skills, but also their confidence in every area of their life.”

Samantha McCulloch, 6, is one of the children in the program who has seen her confidence improve.

“My favorite part is hitting the ball,” Samantha said. “It’s a lot of fun. I made a couple of friends and I like coming here.”

When asked the most important thing she’s learned so far, Samantha replied, “When you play it’s not about winning, it’s about having fun and learning.”

Character building is also a key component of the STEM program. Not only does the program teach children scientific concepts and principles, it teaches them science is more than just numbers.

President Barack Obama emphasized that point in a speech at a White House Science fair addressing STEM programs.

“[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves,” Obama said. “It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world."

“Part of what’s important to do is also to recognize that what you do in math and engineering and science has a purpose to it,” Obama continued. “There are huge challenges that we have to solve in how we have clean energy, and how we clean up our environment, and how do we solve crippling diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. And when we give students the inspiration not just that math and science are inherently interesting, and technology and engineering are inherently interesting, but there’s actual problems to solve, it turns out that young people, they rise to the challenge. And that’s what’s so exciting about it.”

Module 1 of JBER’s STEM program addressed the president’s point earlier this year, as it taught children scientific principles of waste and how that waste affects the environment.

“They used Legos to build their own recycling center structures,” Yost said. “When they first started, many didn’t know how to build basic structures, but by the time we finished they were building masterpieces that had motors and scientific waste applications.”

Yost said the most rewarding part of the program for her is watching the children develop.

“They come in really shy in their little boxes,” Yost said. “They open up and start to blossom into little people. I love watching their attitudes change and their confidence grow. I love helping nurture the curiosity kids have in science and math.”

The STEM program also has a mentoring component. Older children and adults can mentor kids throughout the year. The school age centers are currently looking for more adult mentors to augment their staff. For more information on the program, call 552-5091.

JBER will host a STEM expo Sept. 24 beginning at 4:15 p.m. at the Ketchikan School Age Center where parents and kids can learn more about the program.