OSU K-12 STEM Outreach Program - "Delivering the Boots"

OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT) K-12 STEM Team consists of three full-time staff, and several part-time undergraduate college students that make it possible to go out and teach STEM to kids. The team is completely reliant on grants, external funding and sponsorships for STEM K-12 outreach.

“I guess that it is all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps”. Martin Luther King, Jr.
OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT) K-12 STEM Program's mission is to deliver the STEM boots to America’s own communities that have been left bootless. We want to develop and cultivate a sustainable educational ecosystem that trains under resourced, and under academically performing students to become a world class STEM workforce in America focusing on Oklahoma and surrounding states.

Our program offers Engineering Camps, STEM expos, Teacher Professional Development (PD), Family STEM Events, STEM Mentoring, and other community and school outreach activities and events across Oklahoma and surrounding states. We want to reach more of our state's youth, focusing on rural, diverse, and under resourced communities with STEM opportunities. Our mission and goal is reaching all 77 Oklahoma counties. Everyone in our programs is provided with hands-on instruction and activities to engage thinking and working like engineers.
The Camps, Teacher PD, and other STEM events offer great resources and opportunities for kids, families, teachers, and communities, including:
• Group projects that require leadership and teamwork
• Lessons that teach the importance of cooperation, division of labor and accountability
• Hands-on instruction from current CEAT and Education students under the supervision of CEAT faculty and staff
• Exposure to STEM learning in a fun, interactive environment

Once interest is sparked, then we can provide options and avenues to take those next steps for the future. Follow up from events can include teacher and school visits, field trip(s) for the students to go to the Oklahoma Science Museum, or Tulsa Discovery Lab, a pipeline of contacts and resources with other community leaders that can get them to the next step of the future of STEM in Oklahoma.