SNOW HILL – Worcester County Economic Development is now accepting applications for its 2020 STEM Summer Programs.
Through March 31, Worcester County Economic Development (WCED) will accept applications for its STEM Internship Program, STEM Leadership Cohort and Reach for the Stars STEM Camps.
Since 2013, WCED has offered STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) summer enrichment programs to students ages 12-24. Program Manager Fawn Mete said the goal of STEM Summer Programs is to connect local businesses with the future workforce.
“The Worcester Economic Development STEM Programs were created to help create a bridge between our strong local school system and our regional STEM employers,” she said.
The summer program is divided into three academic groups – grades 6-8, grades 9-11, and students in 12th grade, college and graduate school – and gives participants the opportunity to learn academic and professional development skills in the STEM field.
The STEP UP STEM Internship Program, for high school seniors and college and graduate students, provides participants with hands-on work experience in STEM-related fields. Internships include placements in local agencies and businesses in the fields of medicine, software development, information technology, engineering, environmental science and digital media production.
Interns work a minimum of 60 hours total between June 1 to July 31 and earn $16 an hour in one-time stipend payment. Full-time internships in partnership with STEP UP are also available at NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Northrop Grumman.
“These programs allow employers to build relationships with potential job candidates while they are at college pursuing their degrees,” Mete said, “so that when they graduate with credentials they already have a professional network of potential career connections on the Eastern Shore.”
The county will also offer a STEM Leadership Cohort for students enrolled in grades 9-11 in the 2019-2020 school year. Participants meet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 27-31 for professional development sessions on a variety of college and career readiness topics, including resume writing, interview skills, college application essays, workplace communication, conflict resolution, leadership and entrepreneurship, to name a few.
The program will be held at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Engineering and Aviation Sciences complex, and transportation is provided from consolidated pick-up points throughout Worcester County.
“The WSLC (Worcester STEM Leadership Cohort) is a golden opportunity for high school students to spend time preparing for college and career,” Mete said. “This is a pre-internship training program that prepares high school students to be competitive candidates for internships as 12th graders or as college students.”
Lastly, WCED will host its Reach for the Stars STEM Camps at UMES on July 27-31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. First-time participants in grades 6-8 during the 2019-2020 school year and returning students in grades 7-8 during the 2019-2020 school year will be divided into two levels.
Mete said the two camps will include hands-on activities and engineering challenges to learn about a variety of STEM topics, including computer science, robotics, aviation, digital media, and aerospace engineering.
“For employers, the value is the opportunity to build their future local workforce,” she said. “We frequently hear from employers who have difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified applicants for open positions in STEM fields on the shore. Employers are eager to form relationships with local students who may want to build their careers and raise their families in this region.”
While the application process is competitive, Mete encouraged students who are interested in any of the summer programs to apply.
“Over the years this program has expanded to include internships with NASA-Wallops Flight Facility and other WFF contractors including Northrop Grumman and Sentinel Robotic Solutions,” she said. “We have added a second level of camp to accommodate returning students who want to accelerate their STEM studies, and we created the Worcester STEM Leadership Cohort to prepare high schoolers to enter the workforce as interns with a high degree of professionalism. We anticipate serving 80 students in 2020.”
For more information, or to apply for the STEM Summer Programs, visit www.chooseworcester.org/STEM.
“For all of our programs, applicants must be Worcester County residents, which includes college students from Worcester County who are currently residing at school,” Mete said.
The application deadline for all three programs is March 31. Early application is considered, as interviews for internships began on Jan. 2. Candidates interested in NASA internships must apply by the NASA deadline of March 8.
