More than 300 students at St. Mary’s Academy Charter School stepped into a whole new world of learning inside the Texas Mobile STEM Laboratory—one of nine high-tech labs traveling across Texas.
Education outreach coordinator Marcos Lares understands first hand the impact of being exposed to stem at a young age.
“I grew up basically without technology,” Lares said. “I understand that socioeconomic backgrounds don’t always have the same opportunities and so giving the opportunity to every child in the state of Texas really warms my heart and I plan to do that effectively and efficiently.”
Former principal and now ACE Program Director Hirma Elizondo, said the program is highly competitive—with over 1,000 schools applying. She applied five times, but said it was all worth it for the students.
“It’s so important, these are our future leaders,” Elizondo said. “Our future creators and with the STEM itself it’s creativity and it’s also sparking that knowledge of curiosity to where they can tie it to that reading math technology can all be incorporated and just sparking that curiosity, I think, for the future, for our students’ future, that’s a big plus,” Elizondo said.
Principal Marissa Esquivel said this state of the art lab gives students in rural areas valuable exposure to stem opportunities.
“We’re underrepresented and our kids sometimes don’t see themselves doing these kind of things,” Esquivel said. “So we are very happy to gotten the opportunity and being able to experience it.”
Lares’ passion for stem led him to earn a master’s in biomedical science, and now he’s sharing that passion with students across the state.
“For me teaching children about the engineering design process, about science, technology, using math as well, building, thinking critically is something so important to me,” Lares said. “The kids love it, they enjoy it and it’s an amazing experience and I love seeing the smile on their faces.”
Esquivel said this is just the beginning of bringing more stem opportunities to their students.
“We’ve been doing a lot of STEM learning,” Lares said. “We do it during the day, and we do it during the after school program. (We’re) gearing it more to what the future brings, getting them involved in science, engineering, and math because that’s what we need future leaders for.”
