Members of Lenoir Co. STEM design team collaborate on how best to achieve goals

The members of Lenoir County’s STEM design team have arrived at a solution — now they need to figure out how to achieve it.

“We pick a direction and we figure out how to get there,” team member Steven Hill said.

About 20 members of the design team gathered Thursday in the offices of the Partnership for Children of Lenoir and Greene Counties to share ideas.

After two community meetings — the most recent focused on Lenoir County’s schoolteachers — to kick off the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) process, participants agreed that the best local solution for bolstering students’ science and math skills to prepare them for jobs of the future is a “STEM hub.”

That hub would be a single location, with staff, dedicated to connecting schools, business, government and citizens together to further STEM goals.

Hill, who is director of secondary education for the county public schools, said the time is right for STEM in Lenoir County because residents realize “the era of manufacturing and tobacco is over.”

Team member Ellen Benton, Lenoir County Schools’ director of instruction, added: “I think in our school system, our educators realize there needs to be a shift (in teaching).”

Lenoir County, Davie County and the 11 counties around Fort Bragg are the first participants in the state’s STEM initiative.

Deborah Mangum of the N.C. STEM Community Collaborative traveled from Raleigh Thursday to facilitate group discussions among the design team members.

She said it is “key” for the local process to be collaborative and involve all stakeholders in the community.

The team members’ ideas will be used to develop their “education innovation design plan,” which must be submitted to the Community Collaborative by Dec. 4 and then forwarded on to potential funding sources.

“The hope is that the design process will become so familiar and ingrained in the community that it will become a common tool for Lenoir County to address any further issues,” Mangum said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.